White Island

Publikovaný: 16.12.2018

At 7:30 we were already at the small harbor of Whakatane. At 8 o'clock our boat with about 30 people left.
Our destination? Te Puia o Whakaari as it is called in Maori (English: White Island). New Zealand's only active volcanic island. The volcano rises 321m above sea level. But 1000m of the volcano lies below sea level.
So we happily sailed over the seemingly endless Pacific, always with White Island in sight. As we had been told beforehand that the probability of seeing a few dolphins was very high, we secured a seat at the front of the boat. And indeed! After three quarters of an hour's drive, we saw one, then two, and then many dolphins jumping out of the water. They followed our boat for a few minutes and happily swam ahead.
After a little more than an hour, we arrived at the island. I was impressed by the amount of greenery I saw, a whole forest was located on the side we were heading to. We then sailed 180° around the island and could already catch a glimpse of the steaming crater from there. We stopped in a bay where another boat from White Island Tours was standing (by the way, the only company authorized to go to the island). We were then taken to the island in rafts that could accommodate 10 people each. Equipped with helmets and gas masks, we were guided around the island by 2 very nice guides. The first thing we saw were the remains of the mining facility that was used in the 1920s to extract sulfur. Cole, one of our guides, told us about the animals and plants that were found here on the island. Some gannet colonies made themselves comfortable here and rats are said to occasionally scurry across the island. We were allowed to take a look into the crater, but not too close! The ground is up to 100°C hot in some places. There is a story that a former worker got too close and all that was left of him were his shoes.
After an hour and a half tour, the rafts brought us back to our boat. There, bikini and swim trunks were quickly put on and we hopped into the water from the boat. Very refreshing! The water in the bay was not corrosive or toxic - just particularly salty. Then everyone received a lunch box and we headed back. Here too, we were surprised by the dolphins again. This time they were even more playful and jumped out of the water one after the other. We arrived back in the harbor around 2 p.m. Overwhelmed and inspired by the impressions of the day, we put on our bikini again and went for a swim at the wonderful Ohope Beach.

A successful day!