At first it looked like an ugly oil slick.
But as they crew of the yacht Maiken sailed closer to brown patch on the ocean near Tonga they realised they were observing something far rarer and far more beautiful.
What looked like a brown stain on the South Pacific turned out to be a spectacular drift of floating pumice stones stretching more than 16 km - and an indication an island was being born nearby. After navigating a course towards steam clouds on the horizon, the crew of the yacht was treated to the sight of lava spewing up from the ocean to create new land where previously there had been none. Thanks to chewy1974 for the pics.