Tonga Sailors Watch New Island Birth

by Sail-World Cruising on 11 Nov 2006 The Skipper of a Yacht in the South Pacific has taken amazing photos of the birth of a new island near Vava’u in Tonga, and ‘a sea of stone’ that they sailed into, it was reported by Matangi Tonga yesterday. The ‘sea of stone’, which blocked the engine’s cooling system, turned out to be compressed ash from the volcano’s eruption.

The yacht, the Maiken, skippered by Frederik Fransson, was motor sailing out of Vava'u when the ‘sea of stone’ incident occurred, and the following day its crew became possibly the first people to witness the birth of a new volcanic island that has been forming in Tonga.

The crew of the yacht 'Maiken' have recorded their observations on a web blog along with photos of the pumice rafts that they came across a day out of Neiafu while sailing towards Fiji.

After passing Tonga's Late island 'Maiken' crew member Haken reported seeing streaks of pumice floating in the water, then, 'We sailed into a vast, many miles wide, belt of densely packed pumice. We were going by motor due to lack of wind and within seconds 'Maiken' slowed down from seven to one knot. We were so fascinated and busy taking pictures that we plowed a couple of hundred meters into this surreal floating stone field before we realized that we had to turn back.'

He said the pumice blocked their engine cooling system and they had to clean it out. They thought it must have come from a volcano and since they didn't know the extent of the eruption and it was getting dark they decided to anchor in Vaiutukakau bay outside Vava'u for the night.

The following day they identified the active volcano as the one close to Home Reef, and they sailed within two miles from it where they could see the volcano clearly. 'One mile in diameter and with four peaks and a central crater smoking with steam and once in a while an outburst high in the sky with lava and ashes. I think we're the first ones out here,' he reported.

Frederik Fransson the skipper reported, 'You might have heard about the sailor's superstition that you should 'never leave on a Friday'. Well, we did and the sea turned to stone, it is hard to get a stronger sign than that.

'It sounds like a bad joke, but just wait until you see the pictures. Floating stones none-the-less. When you pick them up, it is easy to see that they are really just volcanic ash that is compressed into pumice stone. This experience mixed with a close encounter of three whales makes you understand that the ocean is full of surprises.'