White Island

White Island is an active volcanic island that is located in the Bay of Plenty approx. 30 miles from the town of Whakatane (the fun part of the Maori language is that "wh" makes an "f" sound, therefore Whakatane is pronounced fuck-a-tonny). It takes about an hour and a half for the boat pictured below to get to the island.

Once we reached the island we all took turns piling into this inflatable that ferried us to the landing area.

After clambering onto the jumble of concrete blocks that is the landing dock we all meet up in small groups and the guide proceeds to walk us around the island. White Island is shaped like a horseshoe with a crater rim that drops to sea level where the boat lands and there is only a slight elevation gain from there to the crater lake. The photo below was taken from the landing area looking toward the crater lake.

Because of the geological hazards of White Island the New Zealand government has restricted access to only four different guiding companies. Part of the agreement was not only to have limited group sizes, but they also insist that everyone wear a hard hat and at least carry a gas mask. They also pass out "lollies" (hard candy) because sucking on them helps to ease the scratchy throat caused by the sulfuric gas that pours out of fumaroles scattered throughout the island.

Where the sulfuric gas hits rock the sulfur precipitates out and crystals form.

One thing I learned on this trip is that ph levels can drop into negetive numbers. The ph level of the water in this lake is said to be -.5, pure acid.

Kriss is the one with the black tank top.

Here's some group shots to give scale.

The colors here are from minerals precipitating out of the water that periodically flows through here. Mostly sulfer and iron ore.

This is the remains of an old sulfer mining operation.

Sulpher mining on White Island began in 1885 and was finished a year later when the Tarawera eruption covered the island in a blanket of ash. It was feared that the elevated activity may mean that White Island was next. In 1898 mining resumed for four years producing about 1500 tons per year, then was closed down again until 1913.

In 1913 the island was purchased by a Canadian company and mining operations were once again started up. In September 1914 a section of the southern rim of the crater wall slumped, causing a massive lahar that wiped out all the buildings on the island as well as the men who were living there. This disaster halted production again until 1923 when the miners came up with the brilliant idea of making camp on the coast side of the crater rim thus affording themselves some protection from landslides/eruptions. 10 years later the company went bankrupt due to the depression and the island was declared a private scenic reserve in 1953.