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It astonished us once more last night. The burning fire cast Numerous shades of crimson over the sky while hundreds of stars gleamed in the darkness. Watching as molten lava from Sierra Negra raced towards the ocean, even Saturn peeped out from between its rings; Scorpio and Sagittarius were in wonder! Nobody desired to be blinded by the enormous, unadulterated power of nature.
“It is hot, hot, hot!”
The eruptions of the Sierra Negra volcano began three weeks ago. It was first an “on and off” kind of event; one day, its wild force delighted us, and the next, it reverted to its dormant state. However, Sierra Negra has erupted continuously since last Thursday, blessing us with breathtaking views.
I heard a song in my childhood while watching flames shoot up into the sky. We listened to the chant, “It’s hot, hot, hot!” it most definitely was. I could only think of three different ways to interpret this chorus: “Hot as the hot point,” “hot as something “cool” to view, and “hot as the burning coals.” So, during our Western Galapagos Islands tour, as soon as we learned that the volcanic eruption had been active for two days straight, we headed south down the Bolivar Channel to look closer at the main attraction: the area where lava flows were on the whole show.
Sulfur in the air
Two red spots on the horizon were all we could see in the distance. We could have thought these were just two passing ships if we hadn’t known about the ongoing volcanic explosion. But as we approached, the dots became cauldrons that ejected lava! Enthralling rivers of boiling lava rushed downward, scorching vegetation and erupting into pahoehoe lava flows at the first sign of danger. The air began to smell like sulfur, which told me we were as close as possible.
Sierra Negra’s Volcanic Eruption: Pictures don’t do it justice!
Even with the brisk breeze that characterizes this Galapagos season, all the guests and personnel hurried outside. The more astute people covered themselves with cabin blankets. A lot of “AH’s!” and “OH’s!” were coming from the deck. Despite our mutual understanding that the images captured would need to be sufficient to convey the enchantment of the moment we were experiencing, our guests could not put down their cameras and telephones.
Many described it as “a once-in-a-lifetime event.”
I remained outside on the Sky Deck as we neared the end of our tour and started our navigation again. When the shallow water boiled, two columns of steam shot up into the sky and formed a dense horizontal cloud. They entwined, creating a crimson braid as a token of appreciation to the stars for attending this magnificent show. Unintentionally, this fantastic vision provided me with one of the most breathtaking starry nights I have seen in a long time.
