The Earth was formed over 4.5 billion years ago, and it has been changing all the time ever since.

Most changes happen very slow and we don’t notice them at all. The continents slowly creep across the surface of the Earth at an average speed of eight centimeters a year. Over hundreds of millions of years, huge mountains form, and then slowly erode away.

But, sometimes these changes can happen very fast. An earthquake can split the ground in only a few seconds. Lava from a volcanic eruption can spread over the side of a volcano in minutes. A heavy rainstorm can flood a neighborhood in a day.

The crew of the Maiken was having a leisure sail through the South Pacific when they noticed something unusual in the water. They moved in closer to see what it was, but by the time they realized what it was, it was almost too late to escape alive…

The crew of the Maiken was sailing the South Pacific when they spotted an unusual shadow.

Fredrik writes: “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.”

They were curious and they decided to get a closer look… they redirected their yacht towards it.

They couldn’t believe their eyes… it looked like a beach in the middle of the sea!

They made a decision to sail through the “odd beach”, leaving a trail in the stones behind…

They wondered what could have caused this expanse of stone to appear out of nowhere.

The field of pumice was getting larger all the time. The crew had a bad feeling about it and increased their speed to sail through it…

Once they were at a safe distance, they heard something rumbling. They looked back and saw water bubbling from the Sea…

Believe it or not, the source of the pumice stone was a middle-of-the-sea volcano that was erupting all the time!!

They were curious to watch the entire event, so they got their cameras ready and captured this photo of a massive smoke coming from the volcano.

As the smoke cleared, they noticed something coming out of the Sea…

It was land!

The crew didn’t believe their eyes: It was a birth of a new island!

They sailed a bit closer… they were curious to know if their eyes were playing tricks on them.

But it was all too real! The land was already taking form. The peaks were beginning to show.

This happens once in a lifetime!!

They were way too lucky! Not only because this event was once in a lifetime opportunity… but they barely escaped alive!