My First Glimpses of Bulusan and Mayon
Mt Bulusan (right) and Mt Mayon (far right) in the late afternoon light
Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve had a minor obsession with volcanoes. I guess it all started with the eruption of Mt St. Helens in 1980, which regularly made the evening news.
Despite this fascination with plate tectonics, and having visited many dormant or extinct volcanoes, I have avoided visiting any active ones. This has been a deliberate choice. I have always been sorely afraid that if I witness a volcanic eruption I might become so hooked on the experience that I will jack everything in and spend my life chasing eruptions with my camera. Anyone who remembers the tragic death of renowned French volcanologists Katia & Maurice Krafft in the 1991 eruption of Mt Unzen, will understand that it’s a very risky business.
RIP Katia & Maurice Krafft. Your photographs, footage, and dedication, have helped save thousand of lives, and will not be forgotten.
I don’t know where this complete fascination with the power of Mother Nature comes from. I’m not an adrenalin junkie or a speed freak – fast cars and motorbikes and roller-coasters terrify me. But encountering wild animals with big teeth, or the opportunity to go storm-chasing or experience volcanoes or earthquakes, and I’m hooked.
But I don’t have a death wish. So, although I’ve dived with sharks, and (accidentally) experienced a tornado, I have stayed away from active volcanoes until now. Now that I’ve lived a bit, and reached an age where I can legitimately lay claim to being (at least part of) the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything… I’m ready to visit some active volcanoes. And where better, than here in the Philippines? A country that lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, with 23 active volcanoes (2012).
Mt Mayon and Mt Bulusan are two of the most active volcanoes in the Philippines, permanently monitored by PHILVOCS. Mt Mayon, near Legazpi, is justifiably dubbed “the world’s most perfect volcano” due to its beautiful conical form. A photographer’s dream – certainly one of mine!
It is also one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes, killing thousands and destroying several towns in eruptions in 1814 and 1825, and at least 75 in 1993. In November 2006, thousands more died in lahars (deadly mud slides) triggered by heavy rains after an eruption in October that rained ash across the region. As recently as May 2013, five climbers were killed by a small but violent phreatic explosion.
Mt Bulusan, while not as picture-perfect, nor as deadly, is also very impressive, with recent eruptions in November 2010 and February 2011. There are several lakes and hot springs around the volcano, with some good nature trails in the natural park that I am keen to explore.
On a clear day, I can see them both from the beach at Catarman, looming large on the horizon across the San BernardinoStrait. Bulusan is probably around 75-100km away, and Mayon around 150km. Far enough not to be a serious threat to the town, but close enough that you really hope the wind carries the ash in another direction in the event of a major eruption!
Next weekend I am flying to Legazpi to meet some friends, and I will get my first up-close-and-personal view of Mt Mayon. It will not be a dedicated volcano trip, just an ice-breaker, a first introduction, an opportunity to begin to establish a relationship that I hope will deepen over time. To seek permission to come on country, and please don’t kill me!
I am excited. I have that nervous, fluttery feeling in my stomach that you get before a first date…
…which is a bit worrying because I don’t normally date “beautiful ladies” (the name Mayon comes from a Bicolese word for a local heroine known as a beautiful lady). Clearly I have what is known as a “girl crush”!
I hope you like volcanoes? Because you can expect many more posts about them over the coming months!
Mt Bulusan and Mt Mayon from the Biri-Lavezares boat
PS: watch out for the documentary Life on Fire: Volcano Doctors on SBS (AUS) / PBS (US) / UKTV which features Mt Mayon.
over the hills 
Your volcano diary is fascinating. On our recent trip to France we passed through Puy de Domes, an area west of Clermont Ferand which is a series of extinct volcanis cones a bit like the Glasshouse Mountains but wider spaced and more rounded.