Rubaul, Papua New Guinea

On or around June 20, 1994, we docked in Rubaul, Papua New Guinea on the Cunard Crown Monarch. The bay was a beautiful sail-in with volcanic cones on both sides of the bay. Tavurver to the East and Vulcan to the West.

A group of crew including many of the entertainment staff took an adventure volcano tour. We were driven from Rubaul to Matupi, then took dugout canoes across the bay to the base of Tavurver volcano. From there we hiked up to the caldera in smothering heat and humidity. From there we used ropes to rappel into the caldera where hot air and sulfur were drifting out of the ground. After returning to the beach we drank coconut water straight from the source and returned to the ship via canoe and van.

On September 19, 1994, both Tavurver and Vulcan, erupted. Some of the media here is from other sources that were found long ago and are therefore uncredited.

You can see more media and description of the eruption at the following links.