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Old 04-12-2012, 05:41   #136
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Re: South Pacific Island discovered......to not exist!

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Originally Posted by jeanathon
I agree with you there, but a doughnut or croissant does not a hearty breakfast make. I was thinking more of eggs benedict, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, sausage and eggs, etc. In other words "breakfast". In English I suppose it would be "break fast" compared to petite dejuene "small meal".
perhaps if the land of such hearty breakfasts, took some look at the size of people in the land of petit déjeuner!.

It should also be borne in mind that in France, lunch, is not a snack and go meal like across the pond, theres a reason for that 2 hour break you know.

anyway commentary on the best country in the world for food is well beyond this forums ability, we should stick to criticising its boats,( or not)

now where was that island again!

dave
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Old 04-12-2012, 07:22   #137
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Re: South Pacific Island discovered......to not exist!

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Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat View Post
Good to see someone actually posting about the subject!

We knew (well, were pretty sure) the island didn't exist, had spoken to people who had sailed very close to the location, and saw nothing, but I still wasn't game to sail down our rhumbline and straight across it (according to the chart)! Especially as we might have been arriving there at night.

I guess you get so used to believing the charts, it's hard to ignore them.
I think it's a pretty simple explanation of what happened. The original report from the ship did see something that looked like an island. But, recent sightings of a sea phenomena show what could be source of the original "sandy island" story:

"The lookout reported a shadow on the ocean ahead of us, so I ordered the ship's spotlight to be trained on the area ... as far ahead as I could observe was a raft of pumice moving up and down with the swell," Lt. Tim Oscar said.

Pumice is typically a byproduct of lava that has cooled quickly after a volcanic eruption. The lava forms a rock so lightweight it floats on the water's surface.

"As we moved through the raft of pumice we used the spotlights to try and find the edge -- but it extended as far as we could see," Oscar said after the encounter.

Officials reported the floating rock shelf to be 250 nautical miles long by 30 nautical miles wide. A nautical mile is about 6,076 feet.

"The rock looked to be sitting two feet above the surface of the waves, and lit up a brilliant white color in the spotlight. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf," Oscar said, according to the statement.

Sailors said taking their ship directly into the floating pumice to gather samples for research scientists didn't put the vessel at risk because the rock was so lightweight.

Volcanologist Helen Bostock told New Zealand Royal Navy officials the rock came from an underwater volcanic eruption, and now scientists will work to determine which volcano was responsible.


'Weirdest thing' floats in South Pacific - CNN
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