Everybody knows about the Bermuda Triangle and the Sargasso Sea as spooky places in the Caribbean that any sea captain in his right mind should avoid – at least, that’s the message I got as a kid from watching my beloved Jonny Quest, who spent his share of time in there and in the Caribbean generally. One place sea captains really DO avoid in the Caribbean, tho, is Kick ’em Jenny, an active undersea volcano off Grenada’s north coast. Ships are banned from coming within 1.6km of Jenny, which is nine kilometres from the coast and, in eruption, stirs up high waves and heats surrounding waters to boiling point. Kick ’em Jenny erupted in 1939, shooting a cloud of ash 270m above the sea surface. Since then, Jenny has erupted more mildly at least 12 times, causing no deaths or injuries. Jenny’s summit is less than 150 meters below the ocean’s surface and last erupted in December 2001.
This week, Jenny got a brother. Scientists last Wednesday discovered an inactive 1.2km high underwater volcano they are tentatively calling it Kick ’em Jack after its neighbor Kick ’em Jenny a mere three kilometers away at latitude 12.3 north, longitude 61.63 west. Eight scientists led by Haraldur Sigurdsson from University of Rhode Island ran into Jack as they lowered a remote-controlled underwater craft into an area where geologists thought they might find evidence of volcanic activity from Jenny. “This is a very exciting discovery. Obviously this volcano was there before, it’s just that we are only now discovering it,” said geologist Richard Robertson of the University of West Indies’ Seismic Research Unit.
Jenny is one of 105 known underwater volcanoes in the world. The Soufriere Hills Volcano in Montserrat is the Caribbean’s only active volcano on a populated island. Jack joins another 15 dormant volcanoes in the region.