One of the closest villages to the volcano in Tonga is on the isolated island of Nomuka.
The Sheen family run a whale-watching business there, but they have been in New Zealand over the past month for scheduled maintenance on their catamaran.
They know the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai well - they took their boat there and camped on the volcano last year.
Dave Sheen spoke to RNZ reporter Sam Olley.
