Category: places

Swimming with the jellyfish in Palau

Jellyfish Lake is a marine lake located on Eil Malk island in Palau. The lake is connected to the sea via three tunnels that lie near the surface. The tunnels channel tidal water in and out of the lake.  The millions of golden jellyfish found in the lake, which represent a unique subspecies of Mastigias papua etpisoni jellies. spend much of their lives on the move during a daily migration that follows the sun’s arc across the sky. Jellyfish Lake is  one of the best places in the world to enjoy the experience of swimming among a sea of jellies.

© Onyo [CC BY-SA 4.0]
© Onyo [CC BY-SA 4.0]
By Onyo – http://wikitravel.org/shared/Image:Jellyfish_Lake.JPG, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
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Cenote Ik Kil – A Natural Water Sinkhole in Mexico

Ik Kil, located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, is a deep natural sink hole open to the sky, that formed by the collapse of a cave. With vines and ferns extending downward into the sinkhole it is a place of unbelievable natural beauty. Also, there is a carved stairway down to a swimming platform. Cenote Ik Kil was considered sacred by the Mayans who used the site as a location for human sacrifice to their rain god.

By Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

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Ra Paulette’s Hand-Carved Caves

American cave sculptor Ra Paulette digs into hillsides to sculpt elaborate artistic spaces inside mountains. Since he began sculpting in 1990, he has dug over a dozen caves in New Mexico. He works with hand tools only, such as shovels, pick axes, and scrapers. Paulette created Windows of the Earth Shrine in northern New Mexico for a resort north of Santa Fe. The current resort and retreat center, Origin at Rancho de San Juan, provides the public with the opportunity to view and visit the cave sanctuary on guided, docent led tours, by appointment.  Day visitors and overnight guests can hike a third of a mile, enjoy the view, and step inside the sandstone cave space to meditate, journal, enjoy the art, experience a sound bath with crystal singing bowls, or even hold a wedding photo shoot. The shrine took Paulette two and a half years to complete.
info source: wikipedia

By Max shred – Canon Digital Camera, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

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Underwater river flowing under the ocean in Mexico

Underwater rivers are formed when the fresh top water meets the exposed salty groundwater. The different density levels in the two waters causes them to layer. Undersea rivers are similar to the rivers we see on land. They have banks on either side, They carve valleys into the sea floor and follow meandering paths. These rivers were unknown until the 1980s, when sonar mapping of the seafloor began to reveal them.
Angelita in Yucatan, Mexico, looks like any ordinary swimming hole. It’s not until you dive almost 100 feet that the underwater river becomes exposed.

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Amazing Cave Photography

Majestic caves photographed by Ryan Deboodt.

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Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls is located on Multnomah Creek in Oregon, US. Spanning two tiers on basalt cliffs, it is the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon at 620 ft (189 m) in height. The falls drops in two major steps, split into an upper falls and a lower falls. The two drops are due to a zone of more easily eroded basalt at the base of the upper falls. Underground springs from Larch Mountain are the year-round source of water for the waterfall, augmented by spring runoff from the mountain’s snowpack and rainwater during the other seasons. According to legend from the Multnomah tribe (from whom the falls take their name), the waterfall was formed after a young woman sacrificed herself to the Great Spirit to save Multnomah village from a plague by jumping from the cliff. After her death, water began to flow from above the cliff, creating the waterfall. Multnomah Falls is the most visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest with more than 2 million stopping by each year.
info: wikipedia

By Another Believer – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

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Sargasso Sea: The only sea without a land boundary

The Sargasso Sea is a region of the North Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents that swirl around the Bermuda forming a vast whirlpool called the North Atlantic gyre. Unlike all other regions called seas, it has no land boundaries. It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic brown Sargassum seaweed and often calm blue water. The sargassum originates in the nutrient-rich zones close to the coast of the Americas, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico. All of the currents deposit the marine plants which they are carrying into this sea, yet the ocean water in the Sargasso Sea is distinctive for its deep blue color and exceptional clarity. It is also a body of water that has captured the public imagination, and so is seen in a wide variety of literary and artistic works and in popular culture. The Sargasso Sea is frequently (but erroneously) depicted in fiction as a dangerous area where ships are mired in weed for centuries, unable to escape.
info: wikipedia

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