Why you don't want to fall down a blowhole

We recently took another trip to Muriwai Beach. This beach has it all.  When I got out of the car in the parking lot the very first time we visited, my jaw dropped and I reached for my camera. You can see a volcanic flow, stopped in time above the parking lot.The entire cliff face is at least 200 feet high

I wish I had a better picture of this, but you can see the lava flowing up and outward.

Muriwai is actually two beaches. The southern has 8 foot tall pillow-lava boulders strewn around and the northern (that we generally go to) is about a mile and a half long. Separating the two are the gannet colony rocks, a sea cave and the blow hole that I'm going to show you today.

As you notice, the sign doesn't specifically warn against falling down the blow hole, but after watching how hard the water spouts through it, most people would agree that it's a good idea not to.  

Oh, it's just a docile little ornamental hole in the rock

Yeah, right, docile. It was hard to time the shot perfectly. This is about 1/2 the size of the full blow out.

And now a little closer look.  Unfortunately, about a year ago, a guy did fall in it.  He didn't survive.  

All quiet here. From this angle you can see a 'shelf' about eight feet down, at the back of the hole, but it's probably slick with sea weed.

Here it comes...this is a split second before it really explodes...

Faster than the eye can follow, hundreds of gallons crash through it

Anyone inside would have been hammered against the side

These shots were taken at about 3/4 high tide. At high tide, it would have been that much worse.


Muriwai seems to be a place where something exciting is always happening. Not long ago, I sent out a story entitled Escape from Muriwai.  

Well, this time, Allie and I and the boys were standing in the surf, just splashing around.  As a little larger than average wave came in, we were surprised to see a 50-ish woman 'surfer' come along with it, tumbling as the wave broke.  Allie grabbed Arram out of the way and I got a hold on Amiri's arm and supported him while the woman came to rest at our feet. She looked quite embarrassed and apologised over and over.  She might have bowled the boys over had things been a little different.  She had just a little three foot long floaty board so she did not have the skills a real surfer would have.

Here are two last pictures, looking northward                    -djf