If there’s an eruption, don’t run to the beach and yell for the boat to come and get you off the island, is the advice that we received from our guide upon stepping onto White Island. Now would we ever do that, I ask you? No, this is the worst thing that you could do as you would be an open target to the extremely hot rocks flying out of the crater and the correct course of action during the short but extremely violent explosion would be to don your gas mask and take cover behind one of the large boulders on the island.
We spent a day on Whakaari (maori name) last Thursday, one of the most memorable days that I have ever experienced. The island has an almost unearthly quality, like it is another planet altogether. It is extremely dry and rugged although there is evidence of plant life behind the main crater-lake and along the walls of rock lining the coast. There are hissing, steaming fumaroles furiously venting steam in every direction and bright yellow sulphuric crystals growing everywhere. There are also bright reds and browns of the water channels and iron deposits.
Other sensory experiences include the pungent smell of the sulphur gases that cause you to cough and make your eyes water and then there is the dull metallic taste of the water the guide encourages you to taste and questions you about.
The overwhelming feature is the huge, smoking, milky green crater-lake. The lake is constantly boiling and has an acidic level of -1. Currently the lake level is on the rise quite rapidly. The temperature it is recording at the present time is 57’C and its highest temperature recorded just after the last eruption in July 2001 was 75’C.
White Island, along with Mt Ruapehu and Mt Ngaruhoe is on level one alert rating. It is NZ’s only live marine volcano. It is currently recording 10 to 12 tremors daily and the main magna chamber is only about 3km below the ground that we were standing on. It is of huge interest to scientists and volcanologists worldwide because of its unique feature and easy accessibility. The island is monitored hourly by cameras taking a shot every half hour and probes testing the temperature and gas emissions.
Miners were stationed out on White Island to quarry the rock and sulphur round the turn of the century and there is rusting remains of the machinery and structures left behind. Although maori made use of its natural resources much earlier.
It is also home to a large colony of gannets and seals that were luxuriously lolling around on the black rocks around the island as we approached that were probably quite warm from the sunshine that we were so fortunate to have that day.
On the way back we were treated to the sight of a pod of dolphins swimming alongside the ferry.
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