The recent introduction of the newest stone in the jasper family -- a spectacular orbicular jasper -- may be as adventurous a story as there is in the gem trade.Known as "ocean jasper," this stone -- the product of one mine on Madagascar's remote northwest coast bordering the Indian Ocean near Marovato -- was only discovered after years of searching. In an area so isolated it has no roads and the only way it can be accessed is by boat, all ocean jasper mined here must be transported to a more developed area of Madagascar the same way -- by boat. 
Furthermore, ocean jasper can only be observed and collected at low tide. Made up of 'rhyolitic' spheres or orbs, ocean jasper comes in an astonishing array of colors and color combinations: its background can be white, pink, green, red or yellow and it can be filled with pockets of white, yellow, red, pink, blue and green in combinations of 'bands and blobs.'