Received 28OCT02
Hi Everyone
Vanuatu Tanna Island.
The crew of Kalypso along with 2 other yachts made up a party to visit the
active volcano on Mt Yasur. This is one of the worlds most accessable
volcanoes.
The visit ensures an unforgetable experience of natures raw power. Earlier
in the day we stood on the plateau made by the fall of ash. It was like
a huge black glacier about a mile wide, very flat all the contours of the
landscape filled by the fall of ash over a long period. Watching the volcano
some miles away we saw boulders being thrown up in the skyand felt the earth
shake with each bang as it exploded.
We bought our tickets and were told that visits had been stopped the previous
week due to the activity. We were told not to go beyond the car park and
had to sign a disclaimer in case anyone should get hurt.
On reaching the car park just afew 100mtrs from the rim the guide told us
that we could go to the rim on a path which led to the windward side. We
took this path looking at the rocks thrownout of the volcano some were
2ft in diameter. We climbed all the time watching the sky where the ash,
smoke, and gas was being thrown up into the sky.
On the rim with the wind blowing hard on your back trying to push you into
the crater, the view was awesome every few minutes there would be a loud
bang and the explosion would send lots of molten lava into the sky, it would
spin break up andfall back into the crater, but ash would fly hundreds of
feet into the sky to be carried away by the wind.
Looking down into the huge crater it was a mass of smoke, steam and gas.
We stood on the rim only feet from the edge and on each explosion the ground
trembled. Sanity and survival kicked in soon after the adrenalin rush wore
off, and I made a hasty retreat back to the car park.
On reflection Leigh Dallas and myself felt that it was a dangerous thing
to do, as a larger then before explosion shook the ground and ash and stones
rained down on the part of the rim where we had been standing some minutes
earlier.
Bye for now regards Brian