whakaari (or white island), an active volcano in new zealand.
gk and i drove from auckland down to whakatane (seems to be pronounced 'fuckatawnee'), and took a boat trip with other tourists to view the volcano. we were given gas masks to wear, and headcounts were taken at intervals as we approached and left the edge of the main crater.
at the edge of the main crater. why didn't i jump when i had the opportunity? the next photos might illustrate how confusing i found the view. originally, i had imagined a big cauldron of bubbling lava. hehe. standing on the edge, it was hard to make things out. steam obscured a lot, and much of what could be seen looked rocky. the only liquid seemed to be green.
apparently much of what you see here is quite fragile, and it could be that you'd break through to boiling mud if you jumped onto it. the fragility of the surface could also make any rescue attempts dangerous for others. our tour guide led us to believe that rescue attempts would not occur.
we were told that the volcano is an acid water system. we weren't able to find out how strong the acid was, or how hot things got down there, but there is a lot of steam, and much boiling mud just below the crusty surface of things.
if anyone jumped in, it could be that they'd boil to death, suffocate on toxic fumes, or that a combination of those and other things would occur. sorry for not knowing the technical facts. it seems it could potentially be a very painful death, and if someone did attempt a rescue, a lot of damage could be done in the meantime.
i liked the idea that no one would have to see me die if i jumped into a steamy part. i liked the idea that no one would have to worry about the disposal of my corpse. i suppose that they could have heard me scream, though, and that this might have upset some people, or that even knowing i would die would upset some people. but perhaps some people would have really felt they got their money's worth out of the tour. it's quite likely that my actions would have (at the very least) severely inconvenienced the tour staff, though.
in the end, i didn't feel comfortable enough about this method.