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Whakaari

White Island, New Zealand

By Lowell Robinson

August 1^st, 2015

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The White Island was mistakenly named by Captain Cook, failing to notice it was a volcano. Depending on what side you approach from, it’s somewhat easy to see how you might make that mistake. Of course, we knew we were going to an active volcano. The outfitter even gave us gas masks. What we didn’t know was that we would actually need them.

Immediately on stepping foot on the island you are no longer on Earth. Everything is foreign. I felt like we landed on the planet in Interstellar where one guy realizes he has been tricked by the other guy and the audience suddenly feels the dread and doom of being damned for all time. Luckily we only visited White Island for two hours, and I got lots of great photos because yellow on grey really pops.

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On the tour we definitely got our fill of sulphur. Actually my clothes still smell of it, even though they been washed and we are now seven thousand miles away.

The White Island might be named “Don’t cry because I smell, cry because that’s sulfuric acid you’re breathing.” Either way, it’s so worth it. One, it is impossible to shoot a bad photo on this island. Two, marine volcanos are super cool (just ask James Bond), and three, your sinuses have never been clearer.

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The White Island was used for a short time in early 20th century to mine sulphur. The mining company placed ads in newspapers convincing workers to come and live on a South Pacific island. I was told of one unimpressed adventurer who tied himself to the mast of the ship refusing to come down until they sailed away. Me, I think it’s the perfect family vacation.