Birth of an Island (and the Sea of Stones)

A new volcanic island has risen from the South Pacific,
generating huge fields of floating pumice stone.

Something rarely seen... The volcanic birth of a new island and a surreal aftermath: a sea of floating stones (pumice), and a yacht making its way over (seemingly) the rocky plain.

The crew of yacht "Maiken" has posted on their web log the full account of this phenomena, and FoxNews followed it up with an article.

...first they saw some floating sand:



which gave way to a stranger sight: not a strip of land, but a surreal floating stone field (porous pumice raft, to
be precise). Generated by volcanic eruptions, these "rocky plains" drift toward Fiji, some of them reportedly as wide as 30 kilometers.


the yacht seems to drift over a sandy plain...



Finally the crew spots the cause of all this excitement:
a newly-born volcanic island!





One mile in diameter, still active with outbursts of lava and ashes and a smoking central crater, this tropical baby-island is brand new and not put up for sale on EBay or elsewhere... yet.