Centimetre by centimetre, the earth at this spot is reclaiming dry land for Asia from the Pacific.

Lava slowly streams down from a volcano, creating a hissing sound when the molten hot stone meets the water.

Expedition chief Nicolas Dubreuil guides his inflatable boat past the smoke rising up several metres.

"I have never seen anything like this on any of my previous trips," the 45-year-old says.

But he had an inkling that something was about to happen on this island. It's the eighth morning of the cruise and Dubreuil has risen early. In the moonlight he discovered smoke rising in the distance.

Now some of the first cruise passengers are up on deck, their hands stuffed deep into the pockets of their polar jackets.

What they see is something that few people ever get to witness - the formation of land. This is the way oceanic islands form.

Riding in small boats powered by rattling motors, the group approaches the site of the volcanic eruption. The ground is vibrating as rocks go rolling down the slope.

"Here comes a giant one," says one of the group just as a rock crashes into the water.

The cruise ship L'Austral, which is operated by the Ponant cruise line, set out a week earlier to ply the waters of the Kuriles, a chain of Russian islands that stretches out from the Asian continent to Japan.

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