You can still get close. During the 2018 Kilauea eruption a local took my partner in a flat-bottom aluminum skiff out where the lava met the ocean. Intense temperature and pressure deltas made the lava explode underwater, creating literal lava bombs below the water. The guide lowered a bucket fifty feet into the sea and pulled back a pot of boiling water.

It's a small industry out there when the lava flows (e.g. https://bigislandguide.com/big-island-lava-boat-tour)