White Island

We got up at about 5am this morning to head to White Island, which is an active volcano! We got on a boat to take us out to the island. After about a 2 hour boat ride, we got close enough to the island to hop in smaller inflatable boats to bring us to shore. They gave us hard hats and gas masks and we suited up for the tour.

Some of the group being boated over to the shore

Once we arrived on the island we were taken around to see various parts of the volcano. We saw steam coming out of vents, bubbling pools of hot mud, and sulfur-filled streams running across the island. We even got to see the huge acidic lake located at the center of the island.

Me and Erika in full gas-mask glory in front of a vent shooting out steam

It felt like I was on a whole different planet (we joked that it looked like mars!). The only vegetation was a few little fern-like plants along near the ocean because the rest of the island is too acidic for anything to grow. When it was almost time to leave, our guide announced to us that this volcano erupts about every 10 years, and the last time it erupted was 2000... yikes! Good thing we made it around the island without any mishaps!

Me on white island!

We loaded back on to the boat to take us back to the main land. Most people passed out on the boat because we were all so exhausted, but everyone jumped right up when we heard some people out on the front deck yelling that they saw dolphins. I grabbed my camera and ran outside to see about 80-100 dolphins swimming along both sides of our boat. It was so amazing! Since the water is so clear here, I could see them swimming alongside the boat underwater. I stood out on the deck for probably almost 20 minutes watching them swim and jump and play along next to our boat until finally we pulled away and towards the dock.

Dolphins!!!!!!!!!

Once we got back to shore, we headed back to the university for bbq dinner and movie night. We definitely needed to relax after such a fun-filled day.