Diving in Amed?

[charlier]

Hi all - I will post an update on Monday. best, charlie

 

[Dan]

Latest news from my Balinese buddy:
12 km radius from Mount Agung is closed. 20 villages are evacuated.

Wild animals (monkeys, birds, etc.) have been migrating to the south.

 

[billt4sf]

Indonesia: Bali volcano highest alert issued

• 23 September 2017
  

Bali volcano highest alert issued

 

[billt4sf]

Here is a link to a blog from the Earth Observatory of Singapore, NTU - Unrest at Agung Volcano, Bali

Edit: Dan: I re-copied the link

For my money this is the best link / description I have seen.

Thanks Charlie!

- Bill

 

[billt4sf]

Just got an update from Bli Today (my dive guide in Bali from aqua cat bali, the best travel to scuba diving / dive / diving in Bali, Indonesia) about Mount Agung. He just came back from diving in Padangbai. He said it starts to emit a bit of smoke & made a weak tremor every now & then, not much to be concerned of at this moment.

For people who live in Ring of Fire Islands like Bali, this is regular scene. I hiked down to Lake Kintamani & up to Mount Batur back in 1994 to see a close up of the smoke & shooting lava. We started hiking at 5AM. Each of us brought a couple of raw eggs in a grocery bag, salt & peppers in small ziplock bags, 2 slices of bread & a litter water bottle for breakfast. By the time we reached the summit it was about 9AM. We put the raw egg bag in a sulfury steaming walls, scatter around the summit to boil the eggs. 5 minutes later we have egg sandwiches for breakfast We watched the shooting red lava from a half kilometer distance while having breakfast. Then we hiked back to the main road where the restaurant & tourists hang out by noon.

Dan,

I think you should re-consider some of your comments. Of course, one can travel to the top of a live volcano and not suffer injury. I have done so in Hawaii. Those were volcanoes with a studied history whose recent activity had been stable. Agung's activity is clearly changing. Let's not encourage people to tempt fate by getting too close or ignoring official warnings (which is probably not what you meant anyway...)

- Bill

 

[charlier]

Bill makes a good point. The 1963 eruption was explosive and was accompanied by hot pyroclastic flows and an eruptive column at least 20 km. Such volcanoes have a very high destructive potential. We teach a field class that goes to Mt. Batur. We hike to the fumaroles, but I would never take students near the fumaroles if the alert level was tightened.

 

[Dan]

Dan,

I think you should re-consider some of your comments. Of course, one can travel to the top of a live volcano and not suffer injury. I have done so in Hawaii. Those were volcanoes with a studied history whose recent activity had been stable. Agung's activity is clearly changing. Let's not encourage people to tempt fate by getting too close or ignoring official warnings (which is probably not what you meant anyway...)

- Bill

I wasn't talking about Mt.Agung. It was Mt.Batur Mount Batur - Wikipedia northwest of Mount Agung, which historically its eruption (in 2000) wasn't as bad as Mt. Agung in 1963.

If you read my previous posts, I did mentioned about the evacuation has started 12 km radius from the summit today.

Growing up in Indonesia & hiking up several volcanic mountains there (Mt. Selamat, Mt. Gede, Mt. Pangrango, Mt. Sibayak, Mt. Batur, Mt. Abang) I'm aware of which ones to stay away from & follow the advice of local authorities. Mt. Batur is not bad & easy hike. Obviously, with the close proximity to Mt. Agung & it's higher frequency of the tremors, today won't be a good time to hike up Mt. Batur.

 

[Dan]

Bill makes a good point. The 1963 eruption was explosive and was accompanied by hot pyroclastic flows and an eruptive column at least 20 km. Such volcanoes have a very high destructive potential. We teach a field class that goes to Mt. Batur. We hike to the fumaroles, but I would never take students near the fumaroles if the alert level was tightened.

Yep. Same here, as I posted to Bill's reply above. That hike was in 1994, before the 2000 eruption. It was pretty popular trip to do around Lake Kintamani at the time.

 

[charlier]

I wasn't talking about Mt.Agung. It was Mt.Batur Mount Batur - Wikipedia northwest of Mount Agung, which historically its eruption (in 2000) wasn't as bad as Mt. Agung in 1963.

If you read my previous posts, I did mentioned about the evacuation has started 12 km radius from the summit today.

Growing up in Indonesia & hiking up several volcanic mountains there (Mt. Selamat, Mt. Gede, Mt. Pangrango, Mt. Sibayak, Mt. Batur, Mt. Abang) I'm aware of which ones to stay away from & follow the advice of local authorities. Mt. Batur is not bad & easy hike. Obviously, with the close proximity to Mt. Agung & it's higher frequency of the tremors, today won't be a good time to hike up Mt. Batur.

This is perhaps my last post regarding Batur or Agung. Last year, a group us hiked up Mt. Agung. Similar to Batur, Agung a safe volcano to hike during times of quiescence. Past eruptions from Batur were explosive and were not trivial. Historical eruptions are not representative of its long eruptive history.

Edit - my last sentence was not clear. Past eruptions of Batu were violent and destructive, similar to Agung. Just because recent volcanic activity at Batur was moderate, does not suggest that future eruptions at Batu will the same

 

[Dan]

I always wanted to hike up Mt. Agung, whenever I visited Bali, but ended up putting it in the back seat over diving. I guess I lost my chance to do the hike in the future as it would take years to calm back down. By then, my knees probably would say forget it.

I may try Mt. Rinjani & Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) instead.