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Surfer Rides the Waves Around an Erupting Volcano (PHOTOS)
Surfer Rides the Waves Around an Erupting Volcano (PHOTOS)
Jan 17, 2024 3:40 PM

Daredevil surfers have made headlines or paddling out in, but Alison Teal takes extreme surfing to a new level, becoming the first woman to hot-surf around an erupting volcano.

Teal, 30, rode her pink surfboard up to Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii as it erupted into the ocean for the first time since 2011, and photographer Perrin James was there to document the extreme surf session.

"This was a lifelong dream," Teal, who has been called the "Female Indiana Jones," said of the experience. "It was humbling and breathtaking and hot."

Teal runs and travels around the world seeking "life-changing challenges." But even with all her daredevil accomplishments, the surfer and avid adventurer acknowledges the risks in this hot-surfing expedition, and admitted a particularly close call.

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"I was hoping to catch a wave, however, when I got in close I was hit by a spatter of hardening rock spray and I quickly ducked under water," she said. "I looked back and noticed a wave was coming and I paddled for my life to get out of the danger zone. Afterwards I was exhilarated and exhausted at the same time. It was absolute endorphin high, but also terrifying."

Teal, who had woken at sunrise that day to take a fishing boat five hours out to sea knew the the experience was going to be special the minute she arrived at the based by sunset. "As I took a deep breath and hopped off the boat, a double rainbow appeared directly over our heads—one end appearing to come out of the lava and the other out of our boat," she said. "Suddenly a scary scene transformed into the most majestic moment of my life."

In Hawaii, rainbows represent the pathway where the gods come down to bless the earth.

Teal, who warns "don't try this at home," is no stranger to extreme adventure. Her father, David Blehert, is a renowned National Geographic photographer famous for getting the "extreme shot" from the world's wildest jungles and most inaccessible regions; and her mother, Deborah Koehn is a naturalist and yoga teacher. The family has traveled the world together, taking the young Teal everywhere from the flanks of Mt. Everest to the inhispotable regions of the Rajasthan desert.

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