While on vacation in August, a group of mariners caught a once-in-a-lifetime view of a volcano erupting from the safety of a boat offshore.
Philip McNamara captured on video the moment that Mount Tavurvur in Papua New Guinea suddenly erupted, shooting smoke into the sky.
One savvy crewman knew enough to warn others to brace themselves for the delayed sonic boom that soon would rattle their boat.
It has been 20 years since a major volcanic eruption destroyed the once picturesque town of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea, according to a report by Australia’s ABC News.
The August eruption was a reminder to residents of the ongoing geothermal threat of Mount Tavurvur. Clouds of ash rose more than 10 miles into the stratosphere. Vulcanologists believe it might have been only a small taste of what could come if predictions of a catastrophic Krakatoa-style eruption one day prove true.
