Anak Krakatau
Crappy photo I know, but it's a scan from an old processed photo back in 1987 when I visited this volcano, and the pic was quite aged before I scanned it. Nevertheless it was an amazing experience, particularly as a 15 year old on my first ever trip away from my parents.
The volcano itself was simply incredible. These days nobody is allowed to visit it without a permit, as it's considered very dangerous. Hey it probably was then too, but we were not to know. But I will always remember walking at the bottom of the crater of one of the most famous volcanoes in the world. Nature is truly amazing.
We actually camped at the base of the volcano for two days. I was too young and naive to realise at the time, but the dangerous bit was the fact that our camp was robbed by fishermen/pirates overnight. I actually saw them but assumed they were part of our boat crew.
Climbing up the volcano was a challenge in itself. As it is still very active, the slopes are just all ash and large volcanic boulders, so it was quite a hike. Lucky I was fit in those days!
The eruption of Krakatau (called Krakatoa by the Europeans in the old days) actually ushered in some important scientific advances, not the least of which was the discovery of plate tectonics. Anyone interested in volcanoes, this eruption in particular, or the science that followed, would do well to read Krakatoa by Simon Winchester. It's a fantastic and fascinating read.
Bandung
This was also part of the same trip, a quick stopover at the volcano near Bandung, on the way back to Jakarta. I never quite caught the name of it, so I just call it the Bandung Volcano. It is also active, and absolutely reeked of Sulfur, but nothing obvious was happening there when we visited, so apart from the tremendous scenery, it was nowhere near as impressive as Krakatau.
One of the other interesting parts of this trip occurred here, which was me buying a set of nun-chucks (not sure if that's how you spell it). They were very cool, and also very cheap. Alas I was living in Singapore at the time, so they were deemed a deadly weapon when I returned, and confiscated. Possibly just as well - I managed to bash myself a number of times playing with them in the hotel room anyway, so who knows what damage I might have ended up doing to myself!
Mt St Helens
These trips get better as I get older. I met a girl online, and when I was on a trip to the USA, I decided to visit her, way up in a tiny little town called Hermiston, in Oregon. It was an incredible trip, my first ever stateside, and let's just say I was not prepared. It was the end of March, so I assume Spring would be in full flow. Well maybe it was, but even so IT WAS DAMN COLD! I have pictures of me cavorting in the snow wearing shorts! Where there's no sense... as they say :)
So anyway, I was asking this girl about where she lived, and of course I had never heard of it. So she points out one of the nearest famous landmarks, and boy did that ring a bell - Mt St Helens!!! Wow. It suddenly dawned on me why I was so interested in volcanoes in the first place. It was when this particular one blew its top in 1980 and captivated the world, that I was drawn in. I remembered the video of it exploding out from the side and the cataclysmic aftermath. The sheer power of this beast, and the dawning on a young fellow like me at the time of what tremendous destruction nature can cause, has stuck with me forever.
The photos below show you the side of the volcano as it stands - vaporised into nothing in the blast. Plus a close-up view of the inside of the crater, and the new dome forming within. Lastly the plane which I chartered to go up there and have a look. More on that story to follow below!
So it's fair to say I didn't know what I was up against on this trip. It was 1999, and whilst we had internet then, the good old Trip Advisor and such was not in full swing, and I was very much relying on my Lonely Planet travel guide, which is what kept me in good stead on many trips to various places around the world. It's kind of sad that those days are probably gone, as lugging around a 2kg guide book is definitely something you want to avoid when travelling if you can!
Anyway, so it was March, and while Spring, as you can see from the photos above, the mountain was still covered in snow. So there was simply no way for me to climb it. So I let my fingers do the walking and checked out the local yellow pages. It turns out there were many charter flight companies operating in the area, but they were all closed for the winter season. All but one that is...
One guy answered the phone and said yes he could take me up there for a flight. I can't remember how much it cost but it was about $300 I think. Not bad really. So this guy turned up at my motel (I'd moved on from my visit to my friend at this stage). He was driving a huge Cadillac, which didn't surprise me - I was in America after all. What did surprise me was when I got in the car and noticed that instead of the usual two levers attached to the steering column, this car had about eight! WTF? But again, I just put it down to an American thing and quickly brushed it off. The pilot was a crusty bearded old guy, very friendly, and immediately put me at ease. I was pumped for this trip!
We got to the aerodrome, and he pulled up right next to his little 2-seater plane, which was interesting. So I get out of the car, but he doesn't. Instead he winds down the window and says hey can you release the guy ropes for me? Those are the ropes anchored to the ground, holding down the plane in case of high winds. I'm thinking, you lazy fuck, but then I thought, ok maybe a tourist gimmick to get us involved. So I did it. Only after I finished did I realise the truth - the guy (sorry, can't remember his name) asked me to come over to the car, and to help him strap his legs on! Yep, that was the reason behind all the levers - he didn't have any legs. I asked him what happened and he told me he was a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War. I asked him if he was shot down, and he said nah, I just crashed. Oops.
But I was too pumped to let that small detail bug me, and we were shortly airborne, and winging our way to the volcano. Along the way we saw some incredible scenery, including Spirit Lake, which is still full of thousands of logs - trees that were blown over by the force of the explosion back in 1980.
When we arrived at Mt St Helens, the view was stunning. I took over four rolls of film (yep old tech then) and was just in awe. We circled it a few times, and I asked the pilot if we could get closer. He asked how close I wanted to go. I said "can we go inside the crater?" He looked at me, gave me a cheesy grin, and said "nobody has ever asked me to do that before, let's do it!". So down we went. Alas I couldn't get any decent pics inside the crater, as the turbulence was too great. But needless to say it was an incredible experience. I am a bit of a nervous flyer, but when you're in a light plane and can see all around you, all the bumping doesn't matter so much because you can see how little you're actually moving up and down in relation to your altitude. What a trip and what a memory!
Yasur
The last active volcano I have visited was the most intense of the lot, at least from the "active" point of view. Yasur is quite unusual, as in it never, and I mean never, stops erupting. Well perhaps erupting is the wrong word, because not a great deal comes out of it, it just sits there and boils like a big pot of chili con carne.
I went there in 2006. Vanuatu is a fascinating place, and I thoroughly recommend it for a visit. People there really do work on "island time", so nothing happens quickly, nor necessarily as you imagined it would to begin with. But if you're relaxed and flexible, you'll have a ball.
I first knew abour Yasur from watching one of the first series of Survivor. That was a good show that kept me entertained during my year in Gladstone QLD. I don't remember why they visited the volcano, but they did, and it stuck with me. Anyway, so after a few days on the main island, it was over to Tanna, where the volcano is. I stayed at the White Grass Resort, which was simply incredible. Not so much the resort itself, but the scenery and the amazing swimming and snorkeling that could be done there.
The trip to the volcano was in the back of a truck, a couple of hours drive to the base of the cone.
After climbing up the roughly 100m slope to the rim of the crater, boy were we in for some adrenaline pumping. The volcano as I said, is always boiling, but roughly every 30 seconds it spits - sometimes just a little, sometimes a lot. So we're standing at the rim and it spits madly. 2,500 degree volcanic bombs launch into the air above us. The guide calmly tells us to just watch them, then step to the side to avoid them as they come down. WTF!!!!! He said don't run, as you will certainly get hurt. Seriously, this was damn stressful, constantly having to watch for aerial bombardment. I asked the guide how big these bombs could get. He pointed down the slope to a rock the size of a bus and said that one came overhead a couple of weeks ago. Far out. I then asked if they had ever had anyone hurt. He told me usually one or two die every year. Ok. I didn't sign up for that. I love volcanoes, but I am not someone who likes to risk their life, so it was at that point I decided to leave the rest of the group to it and head back down the slope. I'm glad I visited the place, but seriously, it is way too dangerous for me. I can now see why only people 15yo and above are allowed to go on the tour!
So that's it for my volcano resume at this point. I am living in Indonesia now, the world's home of volcanoes, so who knows, maybe I can add to the list sometime soon!
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