Whakaari/White Island — three years on from the eruption

Event	9 December 2019 eruption, 22 deaths
Current status	Closed to all commercial access since the eruption
Visible from	Whakatane coast on clear days
Alert level	Volcanic Alert Level 1-2 (GeoNet)
Nearby open volcanic sites	Rotorua’s Wai-O-Tapu, Waimangu, Te Puia; the Tongariro Alpine Crossing

What happened on 9 December 2019

At 2:11pm on 9 December 2019, Whakaari/White Island, an active marine volcano 48km off the coast of Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty, erupted without warning. Forty-seven tourists and guides were on the island at the time — a number that, in retrospect, drew particular attention given that the GeoNet volcanic alert level had been elevated in the weeks prior.

Twenty-two people died. Twenty-five survived, many with severe burns covering large portions of their bodies. The immediate aftermath involved a dramatic helicopter rescue operation with pilots flying into a still-erupting volcanic environment; subsequently, a period of agonised waiting as families and governments worked to recover the bodies of those who could not be reached in the first days.

The victims were from New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Germany, China, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom. Many were passengers from the cruise ship Ovation of the Seas, which had docked in Tauranga that morning.

I want to be direct about the register of this piece: it is a factual account of what happened and what followed. Whakaari is not a footnote in a travel story. Twenty-two people died in a place that had received paying tourists for decades.

The immediate closure

Whakaari was closed to all access immediately after the eruption. No commercial tours have operated since. The island’s owners — the Buttle family, who have owned Whakaari as private land since 1936 — cooperated with authorities on the closure.

GNS Science, the Crown Research Institute responsible for volcanic monitoring, maintained elevated alert levels on the island for months after the eruption. Subsequent monitoring has shown that Whakaari remains geologically active. As of December 2022, there is no indication from either the scientific or legal communities that commercial access will resume in the foreseeable future.

The prosecutions

The legal proceedings have been substantial and complex. WorkSafe New Zealand — the workplace health and safety regulator — laid charges against multiple parties: the commercial tour operators who had been running trips to the island, the island’s owners, and a number of related entities.

The prosecution centred on whether adequate safety assessments had been conducted, whether the volcanic alert level elevation prior to the eruption had been properly responded to, and whether those who made decisions about taking paying guests onto an active volcano had met their legal obligations.

In April 2022, Whakaari Management (the island’s owners) and three tour operators — White Island Tours, Aerius (a helicopter operator), and ID Tours — pleaded guilty to WorkSafe charges. Sentences and fines were imposed; the operators faced significant financial penalties. Several other defendants maintained not-guilty pleas.

The families of the victims have also pursued civil legal action in multiple jurisdictions, including in the United States under maritime law, given the cruise ship connection.

The scientific picture in 2022

Three years on, GNS Science’s monitoring of Whakaari has produced a more detailed understanding of the eruption mechanism. The 2019 event was what volcanologists classify as a hydrothermal eruption — driven by a sudden expansion of steam rather than magmatic activity. These eruptions are particularly difficult to predict because they don’t necessarily involve the same precursors as magmatic eruptions.

The elevated GeoNet alert level in the weeks prior to December 2019 reflected increased hydrothermal activity that was, in hindsight, a precursor signal — but the specific timing and severity of the eruption was not predictable from that data. This is a genuine scientific constraint, not an excuse for decision-making failures around visitor access.

Whakaari remains a Volcanic Alert Level 1-2 site on GeoNet’s scale. The island has not erupted significantly since December 2019, but volcanic activity — gas emissions, hydrothermal fluid movement — continues.

What you can see from Whakatane

Whakaari is visible from the Whakatane coast on clear days as a low shape on the horizon, occasionally with steam visible above it. The island’s appearance from the mainland has not changed; it is the same active marine volcano it has always been.

Whakatane itself is a pleasant Bay of Plenty town with its own attractions: Ohope Beach, one of the better surf beaches in the North Island, is a short drive away. The Mataatua Wharenui (meeting house) is one of the most significant Maori taonga (treasures) in New Zealand — it was removed to Sydney in 1879, displayed in Britain and Australia for decades, and returned to its people in 1996 after a 117-year absence.

The broader Bay of Plenty region is worth visiting on its own terms: Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, and the access to the Coromandel Peninsula make it a legitimate destination rather than merely a base for White Island tours.

On future access

The question of whether Whakaari will ever reopen to tourists is one I won’t speculate about. The legal proceedings are ongoing. The science of the hydrothermal system hasn’t fundamentally changed. The island’s owners have not publicly indicated any timeline or intention around future access.

What I can say is this: if commercial access does eventually resume — if scientists, regulators, and the island’s owners reach a framework for managed visits — the decision about whether to go should be made with clear eyes about what Whakaari is. It is an active marine volcano. The views from the crater are extraordinary. It is also a place where 22 people died.

That calculation belongs to individual visitors, not to travel writers.

Why the closure matters for trip planning

Older guidebooks, forum threads and some booking listings still describe Whakaari as a standard Bay of Plenty day trip. That picture is out of date. If you are building an itinerary around the Bay of Plenty, treat the island as something you may glimpse from the coast, not as a stop on the schedule. Our older White Island helicopter guide is kept for context only and should not be read as an invitation to book anything.

The practical effect is that the days you might once have set aside for the island are free for other things. Whakatane and Mount Maunganui both reward an unhurried visit, and the Tauranga and Mount Maunganui coast is easy to combine with an inland leg towards Rotorua.

Reading the volcanic landscape elsewhere

If what draws you to Whakaari is the idea of standing in a living volcanic landscape, New Zealand offers it in several managed settings. Each one is run with its own safety regime, and conditions can change, so check the operator and GeoNet before you go.

• Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland for coloured pools and mineral terraces.
• Waimangu Volcanic Valley for a walk through a landscape shaped by a relatively recent eruption.
• Te Puia for geysers combined with Maori cultural context.
• Tongariro craters and geothermal features for high-country volcanic terrain.
• Mt Ruapehu, an active volcano that is also a ski mountain in winter.

For the walking side of this, our note on the Tongariro Crossing in shoulder season explains how conditions shift outside the busy months.

Treating the story with respect

Whakaari sits within the traditional lands and waters of local iwi, and it matters to the people of the Eastern Bay of Plenty in ways that go beyond tourism. If you spend time in the region, the Maori culture overview and the notes on marae etiquette will help you behave well in places where this history is felt. Locals may or may not want to talk about the eruption; follow their lead rather than asking.

It also helps to see this as part of a wider pattern in New Zealand, where natural hazards and tourism sit close together. Our piece on Kaikoura after the 2016 earthquake and the account of Cyclone Gabrielle recovery in Hawke’s Bay show how communities adapt, and why checking current conditions before you travel is part of a good trip, not an afterthought.

Building a North Island loop without the island

A route that starts in Auckland, moves through the Bay of Plenty and then inland to Rotorua and Taupo covers a great deal of volcanic and geothermal interest. The 7-day North Island itinerary shows one way to pace it, and the Rotorua day trips guide and Taupo day trip from Rotorua help fill the gaps. If you would rather not drive every stretch, a hop-on hop-off pass around the North Island is one way to link these towns, and our driving in New Zealand notes cover the alternative. First-time visitors can start with the first time in New Zealand guide.

The Bay of Plenty today

The Bay of Plenty is very much open. Rotorua’s geothermal attractions — Wai-O-Tapu, Waimangu, Te Puia — offer volcanic landscapes in a managed environment with established safety records. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing, the most popular day walk in New Zealand, traverses an active volcanic field with an excellent safety protocol.

Volcanic New Zealand is one of the distinctive experiences the country offers. The relevant question isn’t whether to engage with it, but how to do so with appropriate information.

Visiting the wider region responsibly

For travellers who want to see Whakaari without setting foot on it, several Whakatane- and Rotorua-based boat tours pass within view of the island as part of a wider Bay of Plenty itinerary — worth checking what’s actually included before booking, since some listings are less clear than others about whether they land.

Rotorua, roughly 1.5 hours inland, offers the managed geothermal alternative in full: Te Puia’s geysers and cultural performances, Wai-O-Tapu’s mineral terraces, and Waimangu’s volcanic valley all deliver the same volcanic-landscape interest with an established safety record. The Bay of Plenty overview guide covers how to sequence Whakatane, Rotorua, and the Coromandel if you’re building a North Island loop.

Rotorua Wai-O-Tapu geothermal half-day tour

Frequently asked questions about Whakaari/White Island — three years on from the eruption

Can you still visit Whakaari/White Island? No. The island has been closed to all commercial access since the 9 December 2019 eruption, and there is no publicly announced timeline for reopening.

What can you see of Whakaari from the mainland? It’s visible as a low shape on the horizon from the Whakatane coast on clear days, sometimes with steam visible above it, but there is no way to visit it in person.

Related reading

• Whakatane guide — Bay of Plenty
• Bay of Plenty guide
• Bay of Plenty overview — what to see and do
• Kaikoura after the earthquake — notes on recovery
• Rotorua destination guide
• Tongariro Alpine Crossing guide