The next morning the class was in for a bit of a surprise. It seems that one of the officers, John Fitz, had taken a bit of a tumble while helping to reef the main sail and would be on light duty at least for a couple of weeks at least. Having a profound knowledge of Pacific Island geography, it had been arranged for him to take on a short teaching stint each day. It would give him something useful to do and provide a certain enrichment to the curriculum.
It was a pleasant enough morning. There was a slight roll as the sea was running south. The ship was on a westerly heading and the wind was from east. The really great thing was that Elena had elected to join the mythology group just as soon as Jorge had said that he would like to give it a go. The really really great thing was that none of the other students wished to leave their sail studies involving the intricacies of knots and the like to join them.
As soon as he realized that the two of them were in a class of their own, Jorge felt somewhat ambivalent. Elena had enraptured him. That was true. She certainly did fill him with delight. However, a crowded ship was not a suitable venue for hanky panky not that Elena would prove to be a willing participant. He relegated his thoughts to shore leave with Elena. It didn't matter where. Any port in a storm, he told himself and smiled at her. He wondered what thoughts were in her pretty little head.
Officer Fritz suggested that they use the dining salon because although it was a gorgeous day at sea, he wanted to show them some slides.
"If we wish to start with fundamentals, we need to go back to the age of major volcanic activity in the Pacific."
"The first slide is of a caldera, which comprises almost all of Matangi Island . About a quarter of the arc, seems to have collapsed."
"Couldn't the caldera have been rendered incomplete by a huge explosion, rather than subsidence?" Elena asked.
"That's a possibility," Officer Fitz said. "What else do you notice?"
"The island appears to be an outcropping of a submarine ridge. To the south of the island there is a string of coral that runs for quite some distance away from the island."
"Very perceptive," said Fitz.
"Now we are going to talk about the beginning of an island and stone that floats."
"The stone that floats is pumice," said Elena.
"How did it get that way?"
"During a violent volcanic eruption lava filled with gas is blown out and lands in the sea. The gas eventually seeps out but there are air chambers left, I presume, which provide buoyancy, " Jorge said.
"True. The bubbles are locked in and do help to lower the density immensely. Now for a question," their instructor said. "Does pumice ever sink."
"Yes," said Elena. "When it gets waterlogged, it sinks."
"Excellent. Now for something much more recent. A new island
"How new is new?" Elena asked.
"The eruption, which is in Tongan waters, took place in shallow waters referred to on charts as Metis shoal, on July 5, 1995."
"A micro-second ago geologically speaking," Jorge said.
"No study of volcanic activity is complete without an examination of Krakatoa, which is the most awesome explosion in the historic era."
"Absolutely awesome," Elena said but don't coral reefs pose a more immediate danger to ships plying tropical waters?"
"If you want reefs, I'll give you reefs. Let's start with the basics." Coral reef info False Tail - False Eye
