January 22-Cruising by White Island

We awoke on Tuesday the 22nd to rain, fog and mist. We could hardly see outside the door to our cabin. 

The captain told us last evening that we are in the close proximity to a cyclone and that accounts for the waves and the sky. 

At breakfast the sea looked gray and rolling.

We ate a late lunch and as we settled into our cabin, our friends the Lewis's called to say the volcano was coming up on their side of the ship. We raced over and spent time watching this amazing sight come into view.

White Island is an active andesite stratovolcano and currently is the most active volcano in New Zealand. 

The island is roughly 2 kilometers in diameter and rises only 321 meters above the level of the sea. However from the ocean floor it is about 1600 meters tall. There are many vents giving off warm water near the underwater base of the volcano. There are colorful fish and coral because of the warm water.

 The full name in Maori of the volcano is "Te Puia o Whakaari" meaning " The Dramatic Volcano" by Captain Cook on October 1, 1769 because it always appeared to him to be in a cloud of white steam. 

The fog began to life as we sailed and circled by the volcano. We could see the steam rising from the crater and we could also smell the sulfur.  Strange to think of the crater being just above the water's surface but it lets you know how much of the volcano is below the water.

There was a huge colony of the large white birds with a yellow streak on their head- gannetts they are named. The places where the birds lived were so thickly populated with birds that it looked like batches of snow. 

We played Trivia for the last time with our team from this cruise. Team members were Inge and Lawrence, from Vancouver, Washington; Charles and Mary Lou from Sapphire, North Carolina; and Chris and Guy from Brighton, England. We had great fun together.

We went to a fun lecture by Roger Cartwright about the history of cruising and cruise ships. He is very entertaining. The newest Oceania ship will carry 1200 passengers but offer much larger staterooms. But we really like this 650-700 passenger ship. 

Hard to believe this time is almost gone. We are so lucky to be able to see such amazing things!