A to Z challenge: W

W for the White Island in New Zealand, an active volcano that I would love to explore.

The White Island volcano is estimated to be between 150,000 to 200,000 years old. It was named White Island by Captain Cook, the first European to sight the island. This was in 1769 and as he noted in his log book, “We called it White for as such it always appeared to us”. Cook, however, did not come close enough to realize it was a volcano.

Europeans did not land on White Island until 1826. The first man to do so was Henry Williams and that's how he described the scene:

“We walked round the crater, which presented an awful sight. Its surface was nearly on a level with the sea. One of its sides having fallen in, we had easy access. Steam and smoke were issuing from all parts of the island and to the very summit. There were several small lakes of boiling substance, and on the right a large body of smoke with the upmost fury rose up from the regions below. We examined this awful sight as minutely as we dared but from the intolerable stench of brimstone and the lightness of the surface over which we had to pass, we deemed it not prudent to remain long, fearing suffocation from the one or precipitation into some boiling cavity from the other. As the whole island was composed of sulfur, being blackened with the smoke gave it a ghastly appearance.”

I think that walking on White Island would be like walking on the moon.  Virtually no vegetation (do not see any on pics) but lush beds of yellow and white sulfur crystals among hissing, steaming, bubbling fumaroles. Oh, maybe a little smelly but definitely exciting!

So long my friends,
Evalina