Yes, you read that right. While in New Zealand I had the opportunity to put on a quick demo in the crater of an active marine volcano. Alicia and I went out to White Island Volcano last Sunday. It’s about 90 minutes by boat to the island from Whakatane, which I must admit isn’t my favorite mode of transportation. I was very grateful to finally get off the boat and onto solid, albeit steamy, ground. From what they told us it’s the only active marine volcano in New Zealand and boy was it neat!
Before the tour we requested to do a few “odd” pictures while on the island. We went out with the first landing group and about half way through the tour, surrounded by steaming thermal vents, I busted out my rope and did a short demo for the group that was with us…sort of. Actually I went aside and had Alicia take some photos of me jumping, but the group watched most everything so it ended up being a short demo. After that everyone in the group kept asking who I was and what I did for a living, it was quite fun. We got on the boat as a quiet couple (me being the green faced guy trying not to puke) and came back with everyone chatting us up. Very awesome experience.
One quick note here: in case you ever want to try doing this, it’s impossible to breath! I have pretty good oxygen delivery in my system from all my jumping, but after 5 minutes breathing in thick, thermally heated air, I was about to pass out. I don’t think I’ve ever been that out of breath in my life. It was a crazy feeling (I do have asthma so that probably made matters doubly worse for me).
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