White Island marine volcano, New Zealand

Ever want to peer down into a steam vent, listen to the plop of boiling mud, hear the roar of a geyser, and gaze into a steamy caldera?  I did.   White Volcano, in the Bay of Plenty off North Island, New Zealand, is an easy place to fill my volcanic wishes.

I t takes 1.5 hours , cruising at 18 knots, to reach White Island via the Pee Jay V, a nice boat with both indoor and outdoor seating.  It is rated for 100 passengers, but only books 75 persons so you aren’t crowded.  They serve a lunch and have two bathrooms.  It is a great way to go volcano hunting. 

I had spotted some low clouds ahead of us and was wondering if he were going to hit a rainstorm, then I realized those clouds were actually steam emitting from the White Island caldera.  Soon I could see the volcano rising out of the Pacific. I signed up for White Island Tours boat trip out to White Island about five months before my trip.  Then I got to worrying, Could I climb to the top of the marine volcano?  Everyone I asked said, “Sure you can,” but when I spotted the 321 meters volcano, I had my doubts.  That looked like a pretty steep climb to me. 

White Island is New Zealand only active marine volcano and is the most active volcano in New Zealand. Since it is situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire between the Pacific and Indian-Australian plates, the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences closely monitors volcanic activity. Their seismographs measure between 10-20 small earthquakes per day.  The Scientific Alert Level rates volcanoes on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being “Look Out She’s Going To Blow.”  White Island is generally rated 1-2.  The last eruption was a small one in 2000. The volcanoes small size and easy accessibility makes it favorite for volcanologists to study.

Captain Cook first spotted White Island is 1769 and named it because “as such it always appear’d to us.”It was not until 1826 that Reverend Henry Williams discovered the island was actually a volcano.  The Maori people called it Te Pula o Whakaari meaning “that which is made visible.”

While only 321 meters of the White Island shows above sea level, it is a total of 760 meters from the sea floor.  It is 2.4 km by 2 km above the water, but most of the volcano, 14 km by 16 km lies underwater. The portion I can see has me worried about the climb, then the boat veers to the right and I can see a small dock off to the side of the volcano.

Suddenly, I see why everyone is so confident I can climb this volcano.  Very conveniently for me, its last major eruption blew out the south side of the mountain and the stewing, steaming caldera is low on the south side.  I’ll be able to follow a gradually rising trail right to the edge.

The PeeJay V stops and I climb down a ladder into a small dingy to be ferried to the old dock.  The island is privately owned by the Butte Family Trust and White Island Tours is the only company allowed to bring boats over. In the 1920s and 1930s, sulfur was mined mainly for use in agricultural fertilizers.  The remains of the mill stand rust-colored and solitary.  The building was once two stories high, but all that is visible now is the top story, the bottom story is covered by ash.

Stepping on to the island, I get a whiff of the distinctive rotten egg smell of sulfur.  My guide says that it a good sign.  When the volcano is releasing plenty of gas there is less chance for an eruption.  It is the days when the volcano doesn’t stink that you have to worry about.  We are issued hard hats and gas masks and given instructions where to go to be evacuated in case the volcano does start blowing its top.

The island is primordial looking.  The ground is a splotchy mixture of orange, yellow, white and occasionally red.  White and yellow mounds are heat and pressure mounds and I’m advised not to climb on them.  I pass by boiling gray mud pots plopping with rhythmic bubbles.  Geothermal pools are all around, some bubbling and boiling and others steaming.  Ahead I can hear the roar of steam vents spewing water and steam under great pressure.  When I see a steam vent that is not emitting steam at the moment, I take a quick look inside.  It is beautiful – colored with the bright yellow of pure sulfur and decorated with white and orange crystals from other minerals I don’t recognize.

The sulfur smell is overpowering and I put on my gas masks.  The guide hands out “lollies,” hard candies to suck on to help with the burning in my throat.   As I get closer to the large steam vents, I realize the roar has a different sound.  The noise must be coming from deep in the earth.  The noise recedes as I get closer to the crater’s edge.  I peer down into a bowl shape caldera with steam rising from cracks in the crater walls and along the floor.  There is a pool of greenish colored water and I’m told the amount of water varies.  Sometimes the crater is full and other times nearly empty. I could be looking at a scene from an old horror movie.  The fog shrouds the variegated hues of red, yellow, cream and green that color the eroded walls of the crater.  Nothing is growing and everything is barren like a moonscape.

 Turning around, I walk back towards the vibrant blue of Crater Bay and the comfort of the PeeJay V.   When I step over a small trickle of running water, the guide says “taste it.”  I’m a little leery, but he assures me that it is safe.  I dip my finger in and gingerly lick it.  It has a citric acid taste.  Not horribly nasty, but nothing I would ever order in a restaurant.  Next, he challenges me to taste the bright yellow, pure, sulfur.  Surprisingly, it does not smell or doesn’t have any taste.  This is the stuff you see soldiers pour on to wounds in old war movies.  It is good for infection.

As I pass the old gears of the sulfur mill and wait for the dingy from the PeeJay V, I realize how incredibly lucky I am.  I’ve got to see a volcano up close, without being in any danger.  I’ll probably never have another chance to do this, but if I do, I’m going to take it. 


Submitted by: Janet Webb Farnsworth, writer and Bernadette Heath, photographer and writer of "Grandma Needs a Four-Wheel Drive, Adventure Travel for Seniors." web page: www.grandmaneedsafour-wheeldrive.com 

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