GUNUNG · Indonesia

Pulau Mahengetang

Pulau Mahengetang dilihat dari arah selatan (Marwan Mohamad, CC BY-SA 4.0). Photo: source

Information

Country: Indonesia (ID)
Location / Range: Kepulauan Sangihe, Kec. Tatoareng, Sulawesi Utara
Mountain type: Pulau vulkanik kecil (puncak muncul dari bangunan gunung api bawah laut)
Volcanic?: Yes — volcano
Coordinates: 3.1443, 125.4526
Difficulty: Bukan pendakian puncak; dikunjungi sebagai destinasi selam/snorkeling di perairan sekitarnya
Best Season: Musim kering (± April–Oktober), saat laut lebih tenang
Hazards: Aktivitas gunung api bawah laut Banua Wuhu (gas, air panas), arus laut, dan penyeberangan laut dari Tahuna/Manado

Description

Pulau Mahengetang is a small island in Tatoareng District, Sangihe Islands Regency, North Sulawesi, about an hour by boat from Tahuna and close to Indonesia's maritime border with the Philippines. The island is the emergent summit of a large submarine volcanic edifice: roughly 600 m off its western coast lies Banua Wuhu, an active submarine volcano that rises more than 400 m from the seafloor with its summit only about 5 m below the surface. Banua Wuhu has produced several eruptions (last documented in 1968) and repeatedly built ephemeral islands that later vanished — a roughly 90 m high island appeared in 1835 and had shrunk to a few rocks by 1848. Warmer water and gas bubbles seeping from shallow rock crevices make the waters off Mahengetang one of the most distinctive dive sites in the Sangihe Islands. The elevation of the island's own high point is not well documented.

References

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