Our main purpose in visiting Tanna was to visit Mount Yasur and its active volcano. It had been raining for a week, which results in a steamy fog on the volcano, so we waited for a couple days for things to dry out.

Port Resolution

We anchored in Port Resolution where we had a view of the steam and ash spewing from the volcano. Natural vents on the hill intermittently released steam and sometimes boiling water, and a bayside stream spilled boiling water over the rocks into the bay. At low tide near the end of the beach, pools of boiling water can be used to cook green bananas or yams, plus as a local showed some cruisers, scald a freshly butchered piglet to remove its hair. The piglet was later roasted for a potluck 🙂 We spent hours watching the mountain, plus kayaked and took dinghy rides to get a closeup views.

Tieton’s hull needed to be thoroughly cleaned to meet New Zealand’s stringent biosecurity requirements, so we got out our snorkeling and scuba gear and went to work. Because of the nutrients and warm water released into the water, Port Resolution is incredibly murky. With this, we had to surface to find the boat again, because we could only see a couple feet in front of us and sometimes couldn’t even find the keel. Flying fish fry jumped on and off the boat hull as I cleaned above the waterline, and fortunately none of them landed on me!

Mount Yasur

We decided to take a guided hike up to the volcano and arranged for a ride back, although we were warned by some younger cruisers that the hike was challenging, topped off by a climb up the lava rock covered hill to the volcano rim.

Two villages near the bay disputed access to the volcano, and the resolution was that one village could hike up, but not use the road built by the other village. So scale the mountain it was!

We met our guides, teenagers Evelyn and Susan, at the shore and they walked with us to their village. The villagers raise pigs and cattle, which are sometimes butchered and sold. Pigs wandered through the village along with us. We were offered fresh coconut and enjoyed the coconut water followed by the meat. And then… we started the ascent. Some of the photos remind me of the heat and humidity – notice the smoky look, red faces, and sweat.

As we hiked to the volcano, we crossed several fences separating the pigs and cattle, and keeping both away from the crops further up the hill. As we approached the volcano, we started hearing the rumblings and explosions. Ash fields led to the mountain, which was littered with debris from prior large explosions.

Herman fought forest fires in college and ran up the mountain like he was back fighting fires. I, on the other hand, found the ashy ground and loose lava more challenging. When I finally reached the rim of the volcano, one of the guides said “you owned the mountain!”

The Volcano

We were treated to a completely encompassing sensory experience as we watched the volcano from the rim. The chilly wind at times was whipping across the mountain, occasionally offset with the warmth of an explosion. Sometimes the sulfur-fragrant steam blew back into the mountain, hiding the volcano core from view. Even when we couldn’t see the flaming core, we still heard the rumblings, explosions and sound of falling rocks.

The video below (must be at http://www.SailingTieton.com to view – make sure to unmute) starts at the rim of the volcano, then proceeds through the surrounding terrain. A brief walk takes us to the secure (huh?) railing. Not shown is the railing that was damaged when magma hit it a few days prior. The view at top is obscured by steam.

The video below shows the sheer power of the volcano. Imagine the heat…

After standing at the rim of the volcano for over an hour and taking countless videos and photos, we walked down the rough staircase and had a very bumpy ride back to the village.

What’s Next

This post is over two months delayed… Always watching the weather, along with other cruisers, we saw a departure window and had previously arranged for immigration to make the three hour journey to clear us in Port Resolution at our collective expense. The day after our volcano adventure, we met with immigration to obtain clearance to depart the country for New Zealand, which is typically a seven to nine day sail. Other cruisers were leaving for New Caledonia, which is a shorter sail and one arrived from Fiji. Because of biosecurity requirements, along with donations of food to the villages, cruisers exchanged excess bananas, cheese and pamplemousse (grapefruit). The cruisers arriving were grateful to buy our excess currency so they could pay immigration and customs fees. Even the exit process brings fond memories.