{"id":5039,"date":"2025-10-03T12:57:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T10:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/udbjorg.wordpress.com\/?page_id=2599"},"modified":"2026-02-26T23:45:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:45:34","slug":"krakatau","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.udbjorg.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=5039","title":{"rendered":"Krakatau"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Anak Krakatau 2010<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls preload=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.udbjorg.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Krakatau-2010.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/udbjorg.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/krakatau-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/udbjorg.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/krakatau-1.jpg?w=724\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2757\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You could safely say I\u2019ve been on volcanoes with that man! I worked with Peter in Indonesia on our energy-efficiency project\u2014he built the software for a school-wide Energy Efficiency Competition in Jakarta, and I designed the content and how it all worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019d long heard about Krakatoa, the great volcano that once sat in the middle of the Sunda Strait\u2014the stretch of water between Sumatra and Java. When it exploded in 1883, the glow in the sky was said to be visible as far away as Berlin and Copenhagen. The eerie light came from sunlight refracting through the dust circling the globe for months after the blast. The effect was worldwide: in Trinidad the sun turned blue; in Sri Lanka it was green. They say the detonation remains the loudest sound ever recorded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I decided I had to see what was left of this infamous volcano. I asked Peter if he was up for it, and he was. I did the legwork: found a guide, then booked a local driver to take us to the west coast of Java, where we could hire a boat out to the small cluster of islands that are all that remains of the once-mighty Krakatoa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the middle of the group a new cone had risen\u2014Anak Krakatau, the \u201cChild of Krakatoa.\u201d It first poked its head above the waves in 1927 and has grown ever since, with fresh eruptions every two or three years. It\u2019s a truly virgin piece of land, colonized naturally by whatever plants and animals managed to find their way there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As often happens when you plan anything in places that are a touch less organized, the adventure nearly sank at the dock. The car meant to collect us in Jakarta didn\u2019t show on time, and we began to worry we\u2019d miss our chance to reach the little hotel before nightfall. Eventually it arrived, and we made it to the Sunset Hotel in the West Javan town of Labuhan. The hotel\u2019s guide had our Krakatoa trip lined up: we\u2019d sail out the next morning and spend the night on the volcano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so, at first light, off we went\u2014two locals, Peter, and me. It\u2019s hard to describe just how excited I felt. Not only would we be boating through the very waters where mighty Krakatoa once stood, but we\u2019d also get to curl up for the night in the warm embrace of its daughter, Anak. For me, that was huge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>over hovedet, i hver tilf\u00e6lde ikke for at holde varmen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After three or four hours of hard, deafening motoring, the first leftover islands slid into view. We were headed into the center of the caldera\u2014the name for what\u2019s left when a volcano collapses and the magma chamber still lurks below. Sometimes that chamber is empty and the site goes quiet; in this case, it still needed to vent its temper every so often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We rumbled past the smaller island, <strong>Krakatau Kecil<\/strong>\u2014\u201cLittle Krakatoa\u201d\u2014and there, a little farther on, stood our goal: a perfect volcanic cone rising straight out of the sea. A thin breath of smoke curled from the summit and even from a few vents along the flanks, a clear sign the old lady was very much alive. All three islands were uninhabited: no jetty, no buildings\u2014just a rickety lean-to, likely thrown together by local fishermen who occasionally popped in to clean their catch or sneak a nap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We dropped anchor off <strong>Lagoon Cabe<\/strong> and waded ashore onto a beach as black as spilled ink. The sand alone was a wonder. We\u2019d landed on a stretch of the island that, over the years, had grown a respectable cloak of vegetation\u2014trees eight to ten meters tall, with a dense understory stitched together by smaller plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The beach was six to ten meters wide before the greenery took over. Low, flat creepers reached inland, slipping under the first line of shrubs in the shade of taller trees\u2014a natural gradient from calm water to thick growth. Our guide picked a spot in the trees\u2019 cool shadow and we pitched our tent. The guide and the captain didn\u2019t bother with one, and\u2014as we soon learned\u2014Peter and I hardly needed a roof either, at least not for warmth. The island itself supplied all the heat anyone could ask for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/udbjorg.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/krakatau-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/udbjorg.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/krakatau-2.jpg?w=724\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2761\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course we wanted to stand right on the rim of the cone\u2014nothing less would do. With a bottle of water each, we slipped into the thicket, quickly joined by a drift of spectacular butterflies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Soon we stepped into a clearing of loose lava gravel. We set a slow, steady pace up the volcano\u2019s flank. The danger was obvious. All around us lay boulders of lava\u2014cannonballs hurled from the cone and abandoned on the slope. A direct hit from one of those and you wouldn\u2019t be telling the tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the top we had a fine view of the other islands. In many places the ground exhaled in thin white puffs\u2014sure proof of life below. The vents were far enough away not to worry us, but the air still carried that unmistakable sulphur tang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we neared the rim, bracing for a glimpse into hell, we were surprised\u2014and a little disappointed. No open crater, no boiling lava. Instead, another little volcano was poking up from the center: a fresh cone in the making. Between our rim and that newborn peak yawned a kind of moat. We lacked the courage to scramble down and back up again. There are limits to what you should put yourself through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After that furnace of a climb, throwing ourselves into the water was pure bliss. There\u2019s nothing more beautiful than lying on your back on a jet-black beach, on a deserted island in the Sunda Strait, watching the Milky Way sweep across the sky, hearing soft Indonesian voices from the trees while the waves whisper at your feet. It\u2019s the kind of moment that naturally nudges your thoughts toward infinity\u2014you lose all sense of time, space, even your body. You don\u2019t feel alone; you feel part of a whole you rarely get to notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That night on Anak Krakatau was one of the most beautiful I\u2019ve ever known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As glorious as the star-black sky was, sleeping in a tent was another story. During the day we hadn\u2019t noticed how hot the ground really was\u2014sun on stone felt normal. But at night, with your whole body pressed to the surface, you could tell something more than sunshine was at work. The air stayed warm, but the earth itself was hotter. A sleeping bag? Useless. I unzipped it and used it as an extra pad over the thin mat. T-shirt? Cozy in theory\u2014off it went. Even with every trick, I was still pouring sweat. I felt like a panini in a sandwich press\u2014well on my way to well done. Let\u2019s just say it wasn\u2019t a night for great sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At first light I stood up with the sun and dove straight into the crystal-clear, glass-calm sea. I\u2019ve never had a more welcome cool-down in my life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anak Krakatau 2010 You could safely say I\u2019ve been on volcanoes with that man! I worked with Peter in Indonesia on our energy-efficiency project\u2014he built the software for a school-wide Energy Efficiency Competition in Jakarta, and I designed the content and how it all worked. I\u2019d long heard about Krakatoa, the great volcano that once [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":387,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5039","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.udbjorg.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.udbjorg.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.udbjorg.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.udbjorg.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.udbjorg.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5039"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.udbjorg.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6180,"href":"https:\/\/www.udbjorg.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5039\/revisions\/6180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.udbjorg.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.udbjorg.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}