As I said, I had a day to burn in Antigua, So I decided to go have another look at the local active volcano.
What I mean by that is that I went there specifically to see and get close to flowing lava. The first time, I got close to tumbling, glowing red rocks... The second time I saw flowing lava but could not get very close to it.
But, it only costs about $12 to go for the half day trip, and I decided to give it another go, and, like they say, "third time lucky", so I booked in for a 2pm tour.
And this time there was indeed flowing lava that I could walk right up to and poke a stick in :)))
But, it was rather warm!
The lava was welling up out of a hole in the top of an older flow. It was coming out at about 10cm per second and then heading slowly off down the mountain in a stream about a metre wide.
The cooler, hard lava that we were standing on was still quite hot, and peoples shoes were melting. Im just guessing, but Id say there was a very good chance that there was more of the hot red stuff just 10-20cm or so directly under our feet.
The lava was radiating a great deal of heat and it was only possible to have bare skin within two meters of the stuff for a few seconds before the heat was too much. Im sure I have very minor burns to the skin on the back of my hands due to standing there the couple of extra seconds while the camera flash charged :)))
I stuck my stick into it while I was there and it immediately burst into flame of course. The lava is very thick and viscous. Id describe it as being about the same consistency as very cold honey, or warm (but not hot) tar. It took a good amount of effort of pushing one handed on the stick for a few seconds to get it to penetrate about 20cm.
I didnt try it, but Id guess that if you stood on it (assuming you were fire-proof) that you would sink in very slowly to a depth of somewhere between ankles and knees...
Maybe Ill try that next time... or maybe not! :)
If I do go up there again, Im fully expecting to see fountains and rivers of lava.... Cant wait :)))
