Vesuvius Day - Standing on the Edge

 

Today marks the anniversary of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD. The Roman poet, Pliny the Younger wrote letters providing a good first hand account of the devastation and deaths caused when the mountain blew its top. I remember flying over Mount St Helens in Oregon in October 1986 as many small eruptions were occurring. From that safe distance miles high in the sky, it was interesting to view, but I never got any closer.

Then we started sailing and began getting first hand looks at volcanoes. A good many of the Caribbean islands are volcanic, part a mountain chain that extends along the sea floor. Approaching the island of Saba which juts suddenly out of the water, its peak surrounded in a mist of clouds, left no doubt as to its origin. When we visited St. Eustatius (Statia), we hiked to the bottom of The Quill, a huge volcanic crater. Arriving at Montserrat was totally different. Soufriere Hills Volcano was actively smoldering. We couldn't go ashore and had to make sure we anchored outside the designated exclusion zone. This was getting a bit closer to reality.

Martinique offered an excellent, up close view of the historical eruption of Mt. Pelee which totally destroyed St. Pierre, “the Paris of the West Indies” in 1902, killing most of its inhabitants and leveling the town. We wandered through the ruins which are marked with placards, many showing old photos of the “before” which we compared in amazement to the “after”we were seeing a hundred years later.

As we traveled in South America, volcanoes were quite common. In Ecuador, we took a bus through the Valley of the Volcanoes, south of Quito and viewed majestic Cotapaxi.

The alluring Galapagos Islands off Ecuador's coast are volcanic in origin and one of the most volcanically active places on Earth. We rode horseback on the Isla Isabela, trekked over stony rough aa lava beds for a view of calderas and fumeroles at Sierra Negra and explored lava tubes, sometimes on hands and knees.

Probably the closest and most dramatic encounter with a volcano, however, occurred fairly recently when we visited Vanuatu. One of the must-sees when visiting this South Pacific island nation is a stop at the island of Tanna to stand on the rim of Mount Yasur, the most accessible active volcano in the world.

A 4-wheel drive half-ton community-owned truck was our transportation from the local village to the volcano. The dirt track was rutted and almost non-existent in parts, but the driver knew his way and after about 20 minutes of jostling and bouncing, we arrived at the entrance to the park. As entry fees were paid and receipts written, we stretched our legs, took photos and heard the first roars of the volcano still many miles away.

Up, up, up the truck maneuvered along a track reminiscent of a Colorado 4-wheel drive back-country mountain pass. The truck labored as it negotiated deep ruts and steep inclines and finally deposited us about 150m from the rim of the volcano. Mount Yasur at 361m, is touted to be the world's most accessible active volcano with a crater some 300m across. At some point in time, the path up to the rim had a wooden railing, but it was rickety and in pieces now, more of a hindrance than a help. We clambered up the ash and cinder slope and there we were...looking down into the smoke and sulphurous vapors of Mount Yasur's 100 meter deep crater. We were the only ones up there and we tenuously chose our steps along the rim to the best vantage point.

There are few rules associated with the visit. No one tells you not to stand too close to the edge. There are no guard rails or worries about lawsuits here. You're pretty much on your own.

As if to announce its mighty presence, the volcanic rumbling escalated to a sustained, earsplitting roar that startled us all and had us jumping back and ducking for cover. Huge molten rocks and glowing cinders spewed up into the air far over our heads as we watched the show. The roaring barely subsided when another blast began. We could actually see the shock waves before we heard the thunderous explosions. Blue roiling vapors escaped and mixed with white steam and thick brown smoke. Once the sun set, the spectacle was even more dramatic. For nearly three hours, we watched and heard a continuous, deafening display of fireworks that far exceeded any man-made pyrotechnic display we've ever seen.

Sometimes the smoke and sulphur fumes were so thick, they nearly choked us and we had to walk away to catch our breaths and wipe our eyes until the wind shifted. All around us huge volcanic boulders that had been spit out in the past lay about haphazardly. We remembered the words of our guide, Stanley, who had instructed us that if we saw a molten boulder heading our way, we should stand still, watch its trajectory and try to dodge it. Hmm! Everyone knows this volcano is bound to blow one day. What are the odds it would be tonight? Is this an experience that would even be allowed in most parts of the world? We could see the headlines now..."Idiot tourists flattened by giant volcanic rock while standing on rim of active volcano".

This rates right up there with one of the most memorable experiences of our travels. Happy Vesuvius Day!

General Stores

“If we don't have it, you don't need it!”

General stores, the iconic “everything” stores, are run by moms and pops and generations of families throughout the USA and the world. We've spotted them in Australia and New Zealand and in little towns in South America and South Africa. They're nothing like their modern counterparts of 7-11 or Quick-Stop. Instead of a sterile, “buy what you want and get out” atmosphere manned by a minimum wage employee, good old general stores are warm and friendly. Sometimes the meeting place for small town residents, the pot bellied stove blazes in the winter and the coffee is always hot. Old men gather to share news and trade gossip or play a game of checkers. We're happy to browse around the shelves and determine what it is that we don't need.

The motto above actually belongs to Dan & Whit's General Store in Norwich, Vermont. I visited Dan & Whit's as a kid. Dan & Whit's has been around since 1955, but the actual store dates back to 1891 and is considered a local landmark as are many general stores, not only in the US, but around the world.

As we've traveled, we've made it a point to stop at rural general stores whenever we could. Times have changed. Most offer deli sandwiches and beer to go, along with grain, nails, seeds, and bait. Some things remain the same though. There's usually a burgeoning community bulletin board for locals to pin up their cards offering services. Sometimes someone has some animals for sale or there's an ad for an upcoming bean supper. It's small town, any town and we enjoy it.

We especially like the stores that offer all the stuff that local people want and need, but have maintained their old-time appeal … the old wooden shelving and display cases, pickle barrels, penny candy (that invariably costs 10-25¢ now) and big wedges of cheese waiting to be cut. Frequently purchased items are near the front and easily found. Other items from some other era, lay stuck behind other merchandise on back shelves or are hung from the ceiling, covered with dust, just waiting for someone to need them. Inventory turn is not quite as critical here.

Real general stores reflect the needs of the local community. We visited the general store in Aladdin, Wyoming, population 15. This store supplies gear, feed and ranching equipment to the local cowboys and outlying ranchers. It offers all the other items you'd expect like basic drygoods, but cowboy hats and durable jeans are also on offer. The local post office operates from the store as well. Good old stores like this find it hard to compete with the WalMarts and K-Marts of the world. Luckily, the mega-stores don't have much interest in setting up business in areas like Aladdin, so perhaps this general store is safe.

Another particularly interesting store was Raines Market in Eureka, Nevada. Catering to an old mining town, this store still offers mining equipment along with other staples.It sports lots of hunting trophies on its walls along with the ammunition to make trophies from the local elk, deer and mountain goat population.

Wall Drug in South Dakota started out as a general store and drug store. Their big draw in the early days was offering “Free Ice Water” to folks who traveled along the dusty road past Wall, South Dakota. Today it's a sprawling complex of gimmicks and souvenirs and though it's fun to stop, it's more like an amusement park than a good old country store.

In New Zealand, we visited the Old Stone Store in Kerikeri. It's the oldest European building in New Zealand, but was a mission supply warehouse and never really a store. Now it's a gift shop with memorabilia and unique gifts. Worth a visit, but not a general store by any stretch of the imagination. We've yet to explore the Outback in Australia, but when we do, you can be sure we'll stop at the little general stores along the way.

We visited a local place the other day simply named “The Country Store”, touted to be a general store from days gone by. We browsed through room after room of stuff that was old-looking, but not old. It was a cutesy gift shop rather than a general store and we were disappointed. They did, however, have a pickle barrel and quite honestly, that saved the day!

On the Rocks

I know, when you think rocks you're thinking ice cubes and sundowners or maybe diamonds or pop music? And me? I'm thinking plain, old, big, hard rocks. We've hit them, been aground on them and narrowly avoided them in the boat. We've climbed on them, photographed them and thoroughly enjoyed exploring them on land. Seems rocks are pretty much everywhere. In fact, Earth has even been referred to as “The Third Rock from the Sun.”  

At sea, rocks are not good. They're harder than our fiberglass hull and tend to do a lot of damage. Luckily, our scrapes and bruises have been superficial. Two close calls occurred in the middle of nowhere in Patagonia. Once, the engine crapped out just as we were approaching the entrance to a little cove on the south Chilean coast. This was just happenstance and we managed to avoid the rocks without any mishap.

The other incident occurred in an anchorage off the Beagle Channel and was due to an inattentive crew. Rocks in Patagonia are usually marked with kelp growth. We had just raised anchor and were too busy drinking our morning coffee and chatting to pay proper attention to our route. The rock was not marked on the chart, but there was certainly kelp growth. We were lucky … no major damage and we were off the rocks within an hour, thanks to the rising tide. David chocked up having to dive into the icy Beagle Channel waters to check for hull damage as his penance for inattention. Both incidents were nerve-wracking and could have been devastating. We thanked Neptune profusely (that means extra rum overboard) once we were safe again.

On land, rocks and rocky outcrops are a fascination, not only to us, but to folks that have discovered and looked upon them for centuries. People have drawn pictures on them, written their names on them, and inscribed them. Take Pompey's Pillar, for instance, in Montana, used as a landmark for native American travelers as well as later explorers like Lewis and Clark.

Devil's Tower in Wyoming is awe-inspiring and was the setting for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Native Americans have always held this site sacred and when you're standing at its base, you can easily understand why.

Mount Rushmore is a good example of an in-situ sculpture … it's the whole side of a granite face.

There are lots of famous rocks … the Rock of Gibraltar, Plymouth Rock, Uluru (Ayers Rock), Balancing Rock, Stonehenge. There's the Rosetta Stone, the Blarney Stone, the Rock of Ages, acid rock and Rocky.

Locally, we pass by Dog Rock regularly. It's located at a sharp curve in the road and someone takes the time to paint it so it's very obvious to drivers that it's a dangerous spot.

Other folks have used their “homegrown” rocks as fanciful additions to their properties.

Ships of old used to carry rocks in their bilge to provide extra ballast. On Nine of Cups, this is not necessary. Our lead keel and David's tool collection provide all the ballast we need.

Just for kicks, test your rock knowledge here.