Tonga: How a German experienced the volcanic eruption in the South Pacific

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A large plume of ash rises after the eruption of the submarine volcano Hunga Ha'apai

Photo: Tonga Geological Services / dpa

»It was supposed to be a normal day on the boat, a long awaited spearfishing trip awaited us.

For a few weeks we have been seeing the columns of smoke over the volcano from the island.

But none of us expected what was to follow.

Within a few minutes, the sunny afternoon turned into a nightmare scenario of complete darkness.

In the two previous weeks it had been quite rainy, but now the sun was finally shining again.

There was little wind and we thought the conditions for our trip were ideal.

We, that was Branko, who owns the motorboat, his 19 year old son Zandy, another friend named Matthias, my 15 year old son Keona and me.

Two of us were in the water catching all kinds of fish with spears.

Now and then they came to the boat to deliver their catch.

There were also fairly large sharks around ten feet long.

In these waters, however, they are quite lazy, well-fed, and much more afraid of humans than we are of them.

Eventually our boys got tired from all the swimming and diving.

We wanted to go back.

Then we suddenly heard a loud bang: Buuum!

A few minutes later we saw a huge pillar of cloud.

It wasn't particularly big, but we still had time for a group photo before we had to move on.

But it banged again, now several times and at short intervals.

We could observe how the cloud column formed a mushroom that looked like that of an atomic bomb.

It took on enormous proportions and was upon us a short time later.

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Everything is still peaceful: Felix Windmüller and the rest of the group take a selfie in front of the cloud of smoke

Photo: private

Now let's get home quickly, we thought.

It was only a few minutes to the shore.

Then we spotted a very big wave.

We could only spot her as she broke on several small islands that got in her way.

The wave was taller than the coconut palms that grow on the islands.

What now? We were all shocked and the word tsunami came up. We also saw that there was now a single large wave stretching along the horizon. Where we were at the time, the sea is about 20 meters deep. We figured we wouldn't be able to drive back to the port, get in our vehicles and drive away. The closer a wave rolls to land, the more it will rear up. The danger that we would die from them was great. 'Put on life jackets and hold on,' said Branko. He turned the boat over, his two engines at full throttle, and we escaped out to sea as quickly as we could.

In order not to be caught by the full force of the wave, we had to go where the sea is much deeper.

Luckily for us, Branko knew where the sea is about 600 meters deep and where the water can escape the wave better.

But what he didn't know: would we make it in time before the wave caught up with us?

I felt pretty abandoned at that moment and – to be honest – I had already pretty much finished with life.

The explosions, the air pressure, the wave, the cloud, the extent of the destruction - we suspected that the wave would eclipse anything that has come across this island, our home.

Finally, when we were waiting in deep water about two kilometers from the mainland, my daughter sent me a picture of the destruction of the island via WhatsApp.

Only then did I realize that the wave must have rushed through beneath us without us noticing.

We were relieved, but not for long: Then we could hardly believe our eyes when rocks about a centimeter in size rained from the sky.

There was also thick smoke, and I worried that we would still be able to breathe easily.

Meanwhile it was getting darker and darker, although it was only 5 p.m.

After a few minutes it was so dark that we could see absolutely nothing.

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The motorboat that Windmüller used to escape from the waves

Photo: private

We asked ourselves: What's next? We didn't have to wait long for the answer. There were fireworks of lightning like I've never seen in my entire life. There were so many we couldn't count them. At the same time there was a strong wind. Now the rocks weren't just falling down from above, they were also flying towards us from the side. The water was of course very choppy. We were almost thrown off the boat by some waves. A GPS signal told us our position in the dark. We moved towards the island at walking pace, while the sea current went crazy and our boat turned around on its own axis several times. We depended entirely on our captain, who worked his way through the water piece by piece to reach shore.

When we got to the port, it didn't look particularly inviting: the water had pushed a Chinese fishing boat ashore.

Lots of wood and debris floated around us.

The boat dock was gone.

Instead, there was now a container that was carried into the water by the wave.

Absolute chaos reigned on land: ships, their engines, containers, poles, trees, fences and stones - everything was lying around wildly.

There was no longer a road to be seen.

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Full of ash and dust: Windmüller in the evening after the volcanic eruption

Photo: private

My car, which I had parked about 20 meters away, was on its side. We cleared the obstacles around us, straightened the car and got in. As we were about to drive off, we heard another bang: it was the right front tire. Under normal circumstances, a tire change would now be the order of the day. In our situation, I decided to step on the gas and just drive – come what may.

After a few minutes we escaped from the dangerous tsunami area and couldn't believe that we are all still alive.

I've never had so much adrenaline flowing through my body.

When I got home, the only thing that could calm me down was a good sip of Markgräferler Schnaps, which my mother had sent me from Germany a few months ago.

After that day it might have been a few more sips.«