The crew of the yacht "Maiken" have recorded the birth of a new volcanic island in Tonga:
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," he wrote.