Ten years ago Val and I visited the Greek Islands. While we were there, we visited the island of Santorini, a dormant volcano island. There is a small island off he coast which is the dome of the volcano. It is a pretty active geothermal zone and was interesting to see.

However, it paled in comparison to our visit to White Island today. This is an island 50 km off the coast from Whakatani (fa-ka-ta-nee). It is an 'in your face' volcano that is still very active. Steam plumes shooting out all over the place, bubbling mud pools, a huge sulphur port with steam gushing out that can both choke you and make your eyes water from the acids in it. There is a lake that has formed in one of the deeper craters called oddly enough 'Crater Lake'. Not quite on the scale of Oregon's Crater Lake, but this volcano is much more impressive.

We took an hour and a half boat ride over some very rough seas to get there. About ten of the 50-60 passengers looked a little green by the time we got there. Val and I were not among those ten:) We're both pretty stalwart sea travelers. The tour of the island was broken into three groups and proceeded to spread out all over the crater. I have a bunch of photos, but only a handful of them capture the scale and impressiveness of the place.

The volcano was mined for a short time in the early 20th century by a sulphur manufacturing company until an eruption in 1914 killed everyone on the island. There are the remains of the mill that was built. The concrete is falling apart because the acid in the air is corroding the reinforcing steel to the point that it is literally blowing the walls apart. The parts of the mill that are in the best shape are the wood timbers that formed the roof. Of course these were built from Oregon Pine!

As we left the island on the boat,the captain moved off shore a little and dropped an underwater camera down. The visibility was amazing and there were huge schools of fish everywhere. There was a boat of divers getting ready to go in. Sure wish I had been among them:)

About half way back to the mainland we came upon a large school of 'Common' Dolphins. It's great fun to be on a large boat when there are dolphins in the water. They play a game where they swim along the side of the boat and then get out in front to ride on the bow wave. Sometimes they even let the boat rub against them as if to scratch their backs. Brilliant animals! Next week while we're up north, I plan to go on a dolphin cruise where we get to go swimming with them. The water is a bit cold, but I'll wear appropriate gear and it will be fine.

The trip to White Island was a little expensive, but I highly recommend it for anyone who makes it to New Zealand. There are areas around Rotarua that are active like this, but being on an island is much more exciting, and it kind of feels dangerous while you're there. They even briefed us on what to do in case of eruptions, mudslides, or a flood in case the wall of Crater Lake finally eroded.

That's it for now.

Eric & Val