High Dynamic Range Photography by Carl Roessler

Volcanoes in Papua New Guinea!!!

In 2007, I joined my friends Bob and Ronda Hollis for a cruise on their new dive boat in Papua New Guinea.

While the purpose of the cruise was a shakedown for the vessel and to discover new dive sites, an unexpected benefit was to cruise and fly amid the numerous volcanoes that seem to be everywhere in these islands We flew over smoking craters on our flights North to Rabaul and on our way to Port Moresby. Definitely a bonus!

As you can see in the images below, we saw several massive cones smoking. The one we could most closely approach was the remnant of the Rabaul volcano which erupted in 1995 with catastrophic effects on the seaport town.

In the early 1990s I was very active in Papua New Guinea, with three dive cruisers operating in different sectors of the country. The eruption threw us quite a curve for our northern cruises, but the history of dive travel included wars, assassinations, coups and other inconveniences. A mere volcanic eruption wasn’t going to stop us.

One fascinating image was taken on a memorable evening with a full moon, the volcanic plume rising, and distant thunderstorms flashing lightning bolts in low clouds. It wasn’t the easiest shot I’ve ever taken, but my luck held and the shot came out with a bolt going off as the shutter clicked.

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PNG Coral Reef With Volcano In Background