As we’ve previously, and somewhat floridly, reported, a new island has surfaced in the South Pacific, between Tonga and Fiji at approximately the location given by esteemed American author Howard Phillips Lovecraft for his accursed cyclopean sunken city of R’lyeh.

The crew of the yacht Maiken were the first to discover a strange phenomenon; the surface of the sea was literally covered in a blanket of floating stone. Volcanic pumice is very light, and as you can see from the pictures here, has the appearance of a rocky desert when in fact it’s more like a deceptively solid-looking and treacherous foam.

August 12, 2006, first sighting of the Stone Sea

Bizarre, eh boys and girls? I’m wondering if CS Lewis ever saw something like this before writing the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. They’re not lilies, but it’s very reminiscent of the scenes at the end of the world, with slightly more ominious overtones.

The next day, as the Maiken pushed forward, clear of the strange illusory desert at last, they saw smoke on the horizon and, being inquisitive sorts to say the least, investigated.

Could it be?

A lava eruption from the new land.

Now THAT is eerie, ladies and gentlemen. That is eerie.

Imagine how many people, in all of history, recorded and unrecorded, have had the opportunity to watch the birth of a new land. I’m glad the crew of the Maiken had the courage and curiosity to move forward when so many would have turned back. The mysteries of the earth are profound and glorious, and “awe” is, after all, the root of the word awful. Those who would look upon such things are marked forever.

Maiken‘s photoblog, with much more, here.