[password] grace40

[position] 19 08.375s 178 34.533w

[status] 0730 hrs 14 September 2019. Pumice update. As regular readers of my posts will recall, about 2 weeks ago Fulaga lagoon was flooded with pumice from the Tongan volcano. Since that time much is no longer floating in the water. No more islands of the stuff. Instead there are small isolated bunches of it still bobbing around. That?s the good news. Now the bad. Since the pumice has not actually left the lagoon, it has accumulated on most every beach. Some have only a ribbon of pumice deposited at the high water limit. On others the once pristine sand has been completely covered with it. While not environmentally damaging, at least the villagers don?t think so, it certainly has changed the aesthetics of beaches. It will be several years before the pumice becomes one with the land and things return to what was. In any event, it still gives me pause when I bump into small pebbles while swimming because I can?t get the ?turd? vision out of my mind.

Sototale, John

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