OFF THE RECORD When This Boat Crew Realized What They Were Seeing, It Was Almost Too Late To Escape Alive! We might not realize it in front of our eyes, but the Earth is still changing all the time! It just happens so slowly that we can’t really perceive it. Every now and then, things speed up… a lot! The crew of the Maiken was enjoying a leisurely sail through the South Pacific when they spotted a strange discoloration on the water. They moved in closer to inspect it, but by the time they realized what it was, it was too late… The crew of the Maiken was sailing the South Pacific when they spotted an unusual shadow. As they got closer, what they had taken to be a sandbar revealed itself to be something else entirely. A huge amount of pumice stone was floating to the surface of the water. It looked like a beach. They decided to get a closer look and redirected their yacht towards it. It looks like a beach in the middle of the ocean! The crew decided to sail through it, leaving a break in the stone behind them as they went. They wondered what could have caused this expanse of stone to suddenly appear. The field of pumice was getting even larger as they passed through it. The crew had an uneasy feeling and upped their speed. Once they were a safe distance away, they heard a faint rumbling. Looking back they saw water bubbling from the surface. The source of the pumice stone was an underwater volcano that was actually erupting at the time! They anchored to watch this tremendous event. Massive plumes of smoke filled the sky. As the smoke cleared, they noticed something strange just at the water’s surface…. It was land! The stunned crew couldn’t believe what they were seeing: It was the actual birth of a new island. They sailed a little bit closer to see if their eyes were playing tricks on them. But it was real. The peaks of this new land mass were already taking form. It was one of the rarest events imaginable.
So I was wondering which country WOULD claim it and it turns out its in Tonga, happened in 2006, and Snopes says its all true: In August 2006, the crew of the yacht Maiken, sailing out of the Vava'u island group, encountered a remarkable "stone sea." The phenomena they spotted were a series of pumice rafts resulting from a nearby eruption, one that was forming a new volcanic island in Tonga.
Wasn't a joke Jack. You know how submarines fire missiles without surfacing? They release air and the bubbling water only has the resistance of heavy rain for the missile to fly through. A big methane release from the bottom of the ocean does the same thing and a ship that floats on water will not float on bubbling water of half the density.
In I think 1980 while anchored with my yacht in the bay of Vanikoro island in the pacific we had early in the morning a terrific earthquake . The water on the reef appeared boiling , rocks and trees swaying like made of rubber. Afraid for a tsunami I immediately wanted to leave for deep water where a tsunami has no effect but the locals assured me that this well sheltered bay never was affected by a tidal wave. Two days later we left and sailed for a whole day thru a pumice covered sea ( not so dense as on this pictures) what took nearly all paint from our waterline. Later we heard that the # 8 quake occurred about 500 mile south of us
