Krakatoa – The day the world exploded

OK, you caught me. I shamelessly stole the title of this post from Simon Winchester’s iconic book “Krakatoa – the day the world exploded” – an absolute must-read for anyone interested in volcanoes or the history of Indonesia, or just wanting to read a really good book. It’s a riveting account of the largest volcanic explosion in recorded history: 27 August, 1883, Krakatoa (AKA Krakatau), a volcano just off the coast of West Java (near us!), exploded with a force 10,000 times more powerful than the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. To this day, it is the largest detonation of any kind ever recorded.

Effects of the explosion cannot be understated. It killed at least 36,417 people, and changed global weather patterns for years. The blasts were so huge, they were heard in Sri Lanka and Australia – that’s about 5000 kilometers away! Most people were killed by the 40-m high tsunami generated by the blast, which wiped out 165 villages along nearby coasts, and carried a steamship 2 kms inland (killing all 28 crewman). The island containing Krakatau was vaporized and no longer exists. Global temperatures fell by 1.2 degrees in the following year due to the amount of volcanic debris in the atmosphere blocking sunlight. To put that in perspective, global warming has only warmed the planet by 1 degree since the mid 1700s. Global temperatures did not return to normal until 5 years after the eruption.

Wow. If that doesn’t get you going, nothing will. That was a big freakin’ explosion! (read the book, it’s awesome)

OK, so what does any of this have to do with us (i.e., Rob/Amy)? As eluded to, the location of Krakatau is relatively close to us (see map), making it within weekend-mission distance for us. Those of you paying attention may, at this point, be asking: why would you go see something that blew up and no longer exists? What’s to see? Excellent questions my furry friends.

The answer is that this wonderful planet we live on, never sleeps. You see, the location of Krakatau is an active hole in the ground at the bottom of the ocean that just keeps pumping, otherwise known as a volcanic vent. So ya, while Krakatau blew it’s top, that didn’t stop it from continuing to spew ash and lava. Et voila, in August 1930, enough molten rock had accumulated that it broke the surface of the water, and a brand-new baby volcano-island, aptly named “Anak Krakatau”, was born. Anak means child in Indonesian, so you guessed it: Child of Krakatau. Cool!

Anak Krakatau has grown by about 7 m per year since the 1950s, and now is about 813 m tall – and, has become somewhat of a destination, for obvious reasons. The beauty of the situation is that it is more or less out in the middle of the ocean, and takes a couple hours by speed boat just to get to, and there is nothing there other an a chunk of rock spewing ash and lava. For some reason, that keeps most people away J  Silly tourists.

This was actually our second trip out here. The first time was about a year ago, when it wasn’t erupting, and therefore allowed us to actually land and hike around on the volcano itself. Very cool. What brought us out here for the second time this past weekend, was the chance to see it erupting live, in front of our eyes. Incredible! Like watching Canada-Day fireworks – but an order of magnitude more exciting. It was amazingly consistent, with eruptions (smoke, ash, lava) about every 10 or 15 minutes. So hey, just sit back, grab a beer, and watch the show!

We hooked up with a bunch of Jakarta friends and made it into a weekend. The mission involved the usual 5-hr drive through traffic chaos and getting out of Bogor/Jakarta, to a place on the coast called Carita. From there we all piled on a boat and headed out to sea. Samsul, our Indonesian captain, ran a tight ship and there were no hiccups.

Amy's in the tent! There's 4 of them!

We camped on an island about 2 kms away from Anak Krakatau (camping on Anak would be very very foolish at the moment, if you were to survive at all, which is unlikely) – giving us a nice safety buffer! From our campsite on the beach we had a perfect view of the eruptions. The entire area is a national park, so there is no development, which is a nice break here in Indo. Just a few tropical-island dots in the ocean with the one in the middle erupting and forming a new volcano.  You know, the usual stuff J

So ya, camping on a beach on an uninhabited tropical island, lounging in 30-degree water, and watching a volcano forming in front of our eyes. I must say, it was a unique experience J