Dating experience causes shockwaves in the Pacific
Wednesday, December 6th, 2006
Not something you hear about every day, the creation of a new island, but its going on right now. Somewhere in the Pacific, inside Tonga's Territorial waters, a new volcanic island is forming.
A passing boat, the Maiken †, came across a field of floating pumice stone. A field that thickened so fast that they had back off quickly to avoid getting caught. Moving around the area, they spotted an island in the distance. An island that was smoking and steaming. An island that wasn't on the maps, or the satellite images. A map that Google Earth didn't know about.
A new island.
Apparently they were not the first to notice something was going on, just the first to investigate. A point that should highlight the difference between the Tongans and the Germans.
Apparently Allan Bowe, at the Mounu Island Resort, reported seeing an eruption on Late Iki that could be seen from Mounu Island between August 9-11, "We could hear what sounded like continuous thunder rumbling to the south and there was a huge plume of smoke and cloud rising up into the sky," he said.
Allan said that at the time they rang the tower at the airport in Vava'u and asked if the pilots could have a look, but they didn't get around it .
What ever else you might get from the story, the thing that jumps out for me is that the planet we are living on is changing and evolving. Its a process that has nothing to do with humans and will likely go on long after we are gone. While thats intimidating, and implies a certain insignificance, to me its good to know that there is more to the universe than man can ever control.
†a truly enlightened vessel since the owner manages to run a blog from the middle of the ocean. Welcome to 2006 folks.
