Freaking out at the Volcano - Tanna V

We couldn't leave well enough alone - we had to go visit the volcano again, this time starting in daytime so we could see what it looked like before dark. It was a smaller group of 8 this time which was more manageable. We got so much energy from the last visit we could not wait to see the volcano again and really did not have any big fear of it based on our first experience. We could see how it could be scary but at the level it was acting up now - no big deal but still exciting to see and feel. Raw power and pyrotechnics. A big glorious light show brought to you by Mother Nature, whom you do not mess with, or if you do, at your own peril.

We had lots of room on the truck but I rode the bumper again to save my back and kidneys. They kept calling me the Fireman since I was hanging on the outside. Legal liability would make this impossible if not illegal in the US. Which makes it even more fun for big kids like us. It's like going to a Disneyland that can hurt you if you let it. Kewl! So off we went to the big bad volcano!

We got there about an hour before dark and trekked up the cone. We had to be back at the truck by 7pm which seemed short but that was the rule. The driver had to get home to dinner. We got up there with a few other folks from various resorts on the island. We found out later we were supposed to have a guide from our village and the other guides were upset by that, especially after our group went away along the ridge to try to get a better viewpoint. The guides there told us later that this area was very dangerous as lava often got blown up over there! The volcano was quiet though and we were about to be disappointed and that it had quieted down since our visit two days before. Then Kablooey!!!!!!!!! The big bang from Hell! A huge bang followed by a huge spewing of rocks and lava, this while it was still daylight so we could see the hot rocks but not see them glow red hot. Cindy was so surprised she jumped and fell on to the razor sharp lava stones around us and scraped her shin really bad. Blood oozing out with nasty looking gashes. It was really not that bad but looked bad. We retreated back to the lookout where the other groups were.

The volcano started really going then. The big vent took over the show and started one bang and pow after another, some louder than others. The loudest ones hurt your ears. Some of the rocks were sent hundreds of feet higher than we were standing and we were standing hundreds of feet from the vent already. Very, very dramatic and very angry like. This was much more intense than the first trip despite the fact that no where near as much lava was ending up on the shelf in front of us like last time. But it was going more often with bigger bangs and more going higher. A little freaky. Some in our group were getting more and more nervous and freaked out. I must be a little twisted as I was liking it more and more.

All of a sudden - another big, big BOOM! It started to look like just another big bang with big hot lava (dark now so the lava glowed bright, bright orange red) going up and up before it fell back and went plop, plop, thud in to the interior cone. But - this time - one of the big hot lava rocks went higher than the rest and kept going, going, going - until it was obvious that it was actually coming our way! (I can't begin to use enough exclamation marks for this story but I will resist the urge to put more in!!!) I couldn't keep my eyes off this whirling (it was making a whish-whish sound as it rotated through the air with its oblong shape) devil both because you are not supposed to and because it was fascinating. Up and up coming straight for the group on the edge. People started gasping but were rooted in place. Where do you go? There is no protection. If it hit you it will burn right through you like paper gauze. Well, it went up and over us and landed about two hundred feet behind us and down the outside of the cone near the trail we came up on. If it had been a big shower of lava like the ones we had seen dozens of times, we would have all just been incinerated where we stood. I thought about how hard it would have been to try and judge exactly where it was going to land so I could jump out of the way just before it it - yeah right! Like you can miss a rock dropped on you from the Empire state building only from a block away.

People really started freaking then. I started laughing like I had dodged a bullet and thought it was funny. The energy level on the ridge was almost hysterical. Some almost started running down the trail but stopped and started nervously talking. The topic was: would it do it again and what would happen next time? I wanted to stay - we still had another half hour before time was up - and I really did not think we were in mortal danger - statistically speaking, or at least more than I could handle. I was outvoted though as the group otherwise thought it would feel better with more distance between us and this mean little spitpot of volcano. So we left but with memories of that noisy spinning hot rock burned in to our brains. I still feel a rush thinking about it. Yahoo!!

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