White Island and more dolphins
On March 24th, the tour of White Island was finally a go, and it was so worth waiting for! Not only was the weather absolutely perfect on both the mainland and the island, but the tour was great AND we saw more dolphins on the way out and the way back! As you might predict, I went photo-mad, and even though I have tried to whittle the number down so as not to spam you, I have ended up with 45 pictures I want to share. I cannot pick a favourite of White Island, but I have a definite favourite dolphin photo that I am absolutely giddy over (and you should be too), so click to read about this amazing island and see one of my proudest captures EVER!
The Maori name for White Island (which was named so by Captain Cook) is Whakaari, meaning "The Dramatic Volcano". It is New Zealand's only active marine volcano, having last erupted in 2000. Guided walks and helicopter tours go every day, and I suppose they have some sort of warning system installed to warn of an eruption... but then again, we were told to hunker down by the largest rock we could find if an eruption took place (as if that would help, hah). Here's some more info:
"The volcano is estimated to be between 100,000 and 200,000 years old. However, the small portion of the island that is visible above sea level has been in its present form for an estimated 16,000 years - evidence of a continually changing landscape." (from White Island Tours)
"The island is roughly circular, about two km in diameter, and rises to a height of 321 m above sea level. However this is only the peak of a much larger submarine mountain, which rises up to 1600 m above the nearby seafloor.
Attempts were made in the mid 1880s, 1898-1901 and 1913-1914 to mine sulphur from Whakaari but the last of these came to a halt in September 1914, when part of the western crater rim collapsed, creating a lahar which killed all 10 workers.[2] They disappeared without trace, and only the camp cat (named Peter the Great) survived.[3] Some years later in 1923 mining was again attempted... Unfortunately, there was not enough sulphur at Whakaari and so the ground up rock was used as a component of agricultural fertiliser. Eventually the mining ended in the 1930s because of the poor mineral content in the fertiliser." (from Wikipedia)
Before we get to my pictures, you should check out this amazing aerial photo of the island.
The boat could only get so close to the island,
so we were moved the rest of the distance in dinghies.
The difference in the water colours is due to the pH
(the water on the island has a low, or acidic pH)
The first view of the crater, moving up onto the island.
The old factory ruins.
Different pH's of water mixing.
Seeing the island from the air would be very cool!
I love the textures in the cooled lava.
White Island is unique for the amazing colours of the sulphur.
Bubbling mud pool.
Hiking up along the big steam vent.
Donning my gas mask... the sulphuric steam made me sputter and cough!
The steam vent was hissing quite loudly and belching out high clouds.
An acidic crater lake.
I like this image because it shows how small we are, in our cute little yellow helmets,
as compared to this vast and powerful landscape that could delete us in a second.
More boiling mud.
Such an amazing variety of colours.
The point that the waters with different pH's mix.
Factory ruins up close.
This older lady was so cute with her polyester pants, scarf, and cardigan...
...but seriously, who wears nylons and sandals on a volcano?!
This picture makes me think of a war zone.
Back on the boat... it was striking how the water instantaneously changed colour.
The waters around the island were calm enough to cruise around its perimeter.
And then, on the way back to Whakatane, we saw huge pods of dolphins! I venture to say we saw even more than on the specific dolphin watching/swimming tour. They rode the waves from the bow, and jumped over and over in the distance, giving me lots of photo opportunities.
Here is my pride and joy photo. It's so perfect, it looks digitally altered, but I swear I haven't touched it! I can't believe how lucky I was with the timing -- to press the shutter just as his nose grazed the surface of the water! I haven't framed any of my pictures in years, but I am so putting this one up (and selling prints of it, if you're interested!).
I'm pretty jazzed about this one, too!
Momma and baby. :)
An Australasian Gannet... there were lots of them out feeding on pilchards, again.
When I got back, I immediately set off from Whakatane to get as far along the road as possible before dark. I knew the next D.O.C campsite was considerably inland from teh main road, so I kept the pace up and only stopped for one landscape photo.
This sign was at the start of the road to the campsite, and oh man, they weren't kidding about the road (called Old Motu Road). Suffice to say, I later read in a information booklet that the road was "better suited for mountain bikes".
Darkness closed in before I arrived, and in the next post I'll show the photos I took of the road in the morning. I shouldn't say arrived, actually, as the D.O.C. booklet did not say how far I had to go and after 30km+, I finally had had enough of nearly driving over cliff edges in the dark and just pulled over at the next safe spot. I was so, so far from civilization (in remoteness measurements, not kilometers) that I was not at all worried about anyone bothering me, but I have to say that that fact also freaked me out a little! The sad (and ironic) part is that in the morning, I kept driving up the road out of curiousity and the campsite was only another 500m up the road. :\ Even though this picture of where I parked was taken in the morning, I'll put it here since it goes along with the story above.
Next up... the East Cape, along with another of my favourite trip photos.
The Maori name for White Island (which was named so by Captain Cook) is Whakaari, meaning "The Dramatic Volcano". It is New Zealand's only active marine volcano, having last erupted in 2000. Guided walks and helicopter tours go every day, and I suppose they have some sort of warning system installed to warn of an eruption... but then again, we were told to hunker down by the largest rock we could find if an eruption took place (as if that would help, hah). Here's some more info:
"The volcano is estimated to be between 100,000 and 200,000 years old. However, the small portion of the island that is visible above sea level has been in its present form for an estimated 16,000 years - evidence of a continually changing landscape." (from White Island Tours)
"The island is roughly circular, about two km in diameter, and rises to a height of 321 m above sea level. However this is only the peak of a much larger submarine mountain, which rises up to 1600 m above the nearby seafloor.
Attempts were made in the mid 1880s, 1898-1901 and 1913-1914 to mine sulphur from Whakaari but the last of these came to a halt in September 1914, when part of the western crater rim collapsed, creating a lahar which killed all 10 workers.[2] They disappeared without trace, and only the camp cat (named Peter the Great) survived.[3] Some years later in 1923 mining was again attempted... Unfortunately, there was not enough sulphur at Whakaari and so the ground up rock was used as a component of agricultural fertiliser. Eventually the mining ended in the 1930s because of the poor mineral content in the fertiliser." (from Wikipedia)
Before we get to my pictures, you should check out this amazing aerial photo of the island.
The boat could only get so close to the island,
so we were moved the rest of the distance in dinghies.
The difference in the water colours is due to the pH
(the water on the island has a low, or acidic pH)
The first view of the crater, moving up onto the island.
The old factory ruins.
Different pH's of water mixing.
Seeing the island from the air would be very cool!
I love the textures in the cooled lava.
White Island is unique for the amazing colours of the sulphur.
Bubbling mud pool.
Hiking up along the big steam vent.
Donning my gas mask... the sulphuric steam made me sputter and cough!
The steam vent was hissing quite loudly and belching out high clouds.
An acidic crater lake.
I like this image because it shows how small we are, in our cute little yellow helmets,
as compared to this vast and powerful landscape that could delete us in a second.
More boiling mud.
Such an amazing variety of colours.
The point that the waters with different pH's mix.
Factory ruins up close.
This older lady was so cute with her polyester pants, scarf, and cardigan...
...but seriously, who wears nylons and sandals on a volcano?!
This picture makes me think of a war zone.
Back on the boat... it was striking how the water instantaneously changed colour.
The waters around the island were calm enough to cruise around its perimeter.
And then, on the way back to Whakatane, we saw huge pods of dolphins! I venture to say we saw even more than on the specific dolphin watching/swimming tour. They rode the waves from the bow, and jumped over and over in the distance, giving me lots of photo opportunities.
Here is my pride and joy photo. It's so perfect, it looks digitally altered, but I swear I haven't touched it! I can't believe how lucky I was with the timing -- to press the shutter just as his nose grazed the surface of the water! I haven't framed any of my pictures in years, but I am so putting this one up (and selling prints of it, if you're interested!).
I'm pretty jazzed about this one, too!
Momma and baby. :)
An Australasian Gannet... there were lots of them out feeding on pilchards, again.
When I got back, I immediately set off from Whakatane to get as far along the road as possible before dark. I knew the next D.O.C campsite was considerably inland from teh main road, so I kept the pace up and only stopped for one landscape photo.
This sign was at the start of the road to the campsite, and oh man, they weren't kidding about the road (called Old Motu Road). Suffice to say, I later read in a information booklet that the road was "better suited for mountain bikes".
Darkness closed in before I arrived, and in the next post I'll show the photos I took of the road in the morning. I shouldn't say arrived, actually, as the D.O.C. booklet did not say how far I had to go and after 30km+, I finally had had enough of nearly driving over cliff edges in the dark and just pulled over at the next safe spot. I was so, so far from civilization (in remoteness measurements, not kilometers) that I was not at all worried about anyone bothering me, but I have to say that that fact also freaked me out a little! The sad (and ironic) part is that in the morning, I kept driving up the road out of curiousity and the campsite was only another 500m up the road. :\ Even though this picture of where I parked was taken in the morning, I'll put it here since it goes along with the story above.
Next up... the East Cape, along with another of my favourite trip photos.