Imagine sailing a yacht in the beautiful South Pacific. You’ve headed out for your day’s journey, enjoying the sight of nothing but water as far as the eye can see. Suddenly you notice something in the water. It first looks like a sandbar in the middle of the ocean. As you sail on, it grows denser and denser until it appears that you’re sailing right onto a beach. Upon closer inspection you discover that the faux beach is actually floating volcanic rock on the surface of the water. You look around and there’s no sign of a volcano. Suddenly in the distance, you see it. Smoke and steam are rising from a volcanic eruption right before your eyes. You sail closer for a little while when it finally dawns on you. You are the first person to lay your eyes upon a brand new island. You just witnessed an island being born. This sounds amazing and too good to be true, but it actually happened. Below is the photographic account of this journey documented by the crew of the Maiken yacht.
The Maiken crew spots something in the water.
It almost looks like a sandbar.
Is that a spot of land in the middle of the South Pacific?
It looks like a beach in the middle of the ocean!
It’s a vast floating raft of pumice stones.
Here’s the break in the pumice raft, left behind by the wake of the yacht.
Looking for the volcanic activity that created the pumice rafts.
Aside from the wake trail, it looks like they’re in the middle of a barren field. Once they were a safe distance away, they heard a faint rumbling. Looking back they saw water bubbling from the surface.
When they reached an open space, they watched a submarine volcano spew up smoke and material for land. They could have been caught in the middle of a volcanic eruption.
Mountain tops appear to be coming out of the ocean.
Billowing smoke and steam show the almighty power of Mother Nature.
The crew hangs out for a while reveling in the beauty of the new island’s creation.
Simply amazing.
Out of the ocean, mountains do arise.
With more steam, smoke, and ash.
The gigantic cloud darkens the sky.
The crew of the Maiken had just witnessed a once in a lifetime event, the birth of a new island.
More info: Discover
How amazing would it be to have the opportunity to watch a new island coming into existence? I can’t even begin to imagine how humbling of an experience that would be.