SakshiA Sandbar?
After having the closer look the crew assumed it to be a sandbar floating amidst the ocean. Of course, it is not something unusual as the sea is full of major and minor sandbars floating around. But the sandbar they came across was anything but usual. The crew thought they have finally resolved the mystery but the truth was they were still miles away from the truth. However, as the fate had it, the demystification of the mystery behind this gigantic sandbar was going to be resolved by them only.
Still A Mystery
One of the crew member named Håkan Larsson described the scene on his blog. He wrote “We left Neiafu and Vava’u yesterday after some tedious checking out procedures and set sail for Fiji, passing the north side of Late island as first way point. After five miles we noticed brown, somewhat grainy streaks in the water. First we thought that it might be an old oil dumping. Some ship cleaning its tanks. But the streak became larger and more frequent after a while, and there were rocklike brownish things the size of a fist floating in the sea. And the water were strangely green and “lagoon like” too.” What could it be?
Laying in Ambush
The sandbar was too vast to cover by eyes. It seemed like a never-ending sight for the crew. No need to say the crew started worrying as their ship was apparently too vulnerable to survive the collision. The feeling of uneasiness grew manifold among them. They could sense it! Something very terrible was going to happen. Clearly, they had taken a wrong path and unfortunately, there was no turning back. What were they going to do now?
A Nightmare Come True
The moment finally arrived. The entire crew was standing face to face with what they thought to be ‘sandbar.’ The whole of the team got their mind numb with terror. With their eyes wide open and legs shaking with fear, they continued staring at the sandbar. It was then that they realized the suspicious piece was not ‘sandbar.’ It was something else.
Not A Sandbar
What they considered a “sandbar” was actually pumice. Pumice is the production of a volcano. It comes out when lava oozes out of the volcano. Naturally, this type of rocks is found around active volcanoes. It meant that they were near an active volcano. The thought itself sent a chill to their spines. They were indeed in grave danger.
A Beach? Here?
Look at this picture! What do you think is it? Most probably you may take it as a land adjacent to the sea. But in reality, this large piece of land is floating in the middle of the ocean. The Maiken crew had a number of questions forming on their mind. For how long was it here and how did it come into existence in the first place?