Birth

By oldest brother David sent me a link to some of the most amazing pictures I've ever seen. A fellow named Frederik has been tooling around the South Pacific in a yacht and came upon a once-in-a-lifetime sight, the birth of an island. It's an amazing sight and an even better story:

Yesterday we saw the birth of an island, most likely we were the first humans to see the new creation. We have some pictures, but they will have to wait until we have a chance to upload them. So you might have heard about the sailor 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 compressed into pumice stone. This experience mixed with a close encounter of three whales makes you understand that the ocean is full of surprises.

Truly amazing. My favorite pics of the bunch are the ones where it looks like they've run aground because of all the pumice floating on the sea surface, as described in the excerpt above. Looks a lot like being parked on a beach. Good catch, David!