وبلاگ سپهران | Tourism | Wonders Under the Seas
Hidden stories and secrets within its depths have always presented a puzzling, and at times, terrifying world. Despite the passage of time and advancements in technology aimed at discovering, researching, and understanding more of the unknowns, the ocean still holds onto its enigmatic portion. Today, in the deepest parts of the seas and oceans, there are buried remnants. Some of them are products of human activities, such as wars, shipwrecks, or expressions of political and artistic perspectives.
Others are landscapes formed as a result of natural events like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, or the erosion of the sea and ocean floors. A brief overview of the most unique wonders beneath the seas and oceans is a topic we aim to discuss, introducing you to the unparalleled marvels of these wonders. We recommend staying with the Sepheran blog until the end.
In addition to the mentioned items, there are other wonders located in the depths of the waters, and mentioning some of them can be quite intriguing.
Among them is the Cancún Underwater Museum off the coast of Mexico, which is most famous underwater museum in the world. This museum is a fusion of science and art. The sculptures have been exclusively crafted by renowned artists and are on display, recognized as one of the wonders beneath the seas. To visit this museum, boats with glass bottoms are used.
Beautiful sculptures are located on the sea floor of the Caribbean off the west coast of Grenada, known as the Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park. This underwater wonder was created by the British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor to protect the reefs and consists of 65 cement sculptures. Over time, the sculptures change as they are covered with shifting silt and abundant coral growth.
The collection includes a variety of human figures, and visitors can explore them using diving equipment. This park can be considered one of the wonders beneath the seas.
Another wonder under the seas is the Tarkhankut Museum in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within the Russian Federation. It displays a collection of large-scale sculptures of the leaders and heads of socialist parties throughout the history of the Soviet Union.
This museum was discovered in the 1960s by individuals searching for treasure in the depths of the Shipwreck Trail in Florida. According to one account, this ship set sail from Havana in 1733, carrying a cargo of Mexican silver coins and boxes of Chinese porcelain, bound for Spain. Along the way, it was caught in a storm. This ship is the oldest known shipwreck named “San Pedro“.
The historical city of Shi Cheng, also known as the flourishing city, was built around 25-200 years AD and roughly spanned an area equivalent to 62 football fields. This city is considered one of the underwater wonders and is located at a depth of 40 meters in the artificial Qiandao Lake in China.
So, the city now lies beneath water between the Five Lion Mountain, at depths ranging from 85 to 131 feet. It was deliberately flooded in 1959 to create a hydroelectric power station. Many parts of this city remain untouched, making it one of the most beautiful underwater wonders in the world.
China’s Sunken City of Shi Cheng
You can literally see the dead at the Neptune Memorial Reef in Florida, where human remains have been used to create this artificial rock. People’s ashes have been mixed with cement to form this reef, and a plaque has been placed on it. Seahorses, barracuda, sea turtles, and various other marine animals now call this reef home. In fact, this is an underwater cemetery constructed as an artistic interpretation of Atlantis.
Another museum is the Skeleton Coast Museum located in the city of Caesarea, which showcases the remnants of a city that was submerged over time. This historical city was once an important trading port in the Roman Empire, and as such, the surviving relics are diverse in their splendor and grandeur. Among these are marble columns, anchors, and Byzantine ships.
This church dates back to the 16th century and was built by Dominican monks. In the 1770s, following the plague, the church was abandoned and forgotten. Therefore, the 16th-century Mexican church submerged in the 1960s when the Grijalva River was dammed. Over time, and with decreased rainfall, the structure has emerged from the water. The 16th-century church is located in the town of Quechula.
Another underwater marvel is the Enchanted Forest in Missouri. About 100 feet underwater, you will come across the small town of Oasis in Michigan. This town was submerged by the U.S. Army in 1957.
Today, many divers make their way to this underwater town, wandering its alleys and streets. Visiting the town’s small wooden church adds to the charm of the experience. The underwater forest of this sunken town is known as the “Enchanted Forest“.
The underwater waterfall in Mauritius is not a real waterfall, but rather an optical illusion created by sediment runoffs of silt and sand. This optical illusion is one of the island’s major attractions, and the underwater slope offers a stunning and extraordinary view. You can swim in the warm and clear waters of this island and witness one of the underwater wonders of the world.
Florida Keys is an archipelago located on the southernmost coast of the state of Florida. shipping through its coral coast is extremely difficult and perilous. As a result, countless ships have sunk in this area. However, 9 famous shipwrecks in this region, each sinking for different reasons and on different days and times, are accessible to most divers and are considered one of the unique wonders of this archipelago.
In the mid-1970s, the Joca Lake valley in North Carolina went underwater. All the treasures and archaeological artifacts in this area remained submerged and became an exciting spot for diving. If you can dive your way to this region, you will still find hotels, old buildings, and even a cemetery in the vast depths. Viewing them is truly astonishing for anyone.
This forest, measuring 400 meters in length, is located within a lake named Kaindy. The forest was submerged in 1911 due to an earthquake and a landslide which created a natural dam, filling the area with water. Over time, the forest was completely submerged. The colossal trunks of the pine trees, the crystal-clear mountain water, and the cold air in this submerged forest in the Tian Shan mountains make this area a hundred times more captivating.
If you are in search of underwater wonders, by diving in the deep coasts near the shores of Japan, you will encounter the Yonaguni-Jima pyramids. These extraordinary structures rise 250 feet from the seabed and are among the unique and beautiful wonders of the underwater world. The structures went underwater due to natural disasters like tsunamis.
Yonaguni Island is the westernmost territory of Japan. This island is located on the southwest edge of the Ryukyu Islands group in Okinawa Prefecture, hundreds of kilometers from Taiwan.
Ancient villas, thermal baths, marble statues, and streets all lie at the bottom of the Gulf of Naples. These relics belong to the ancient city of Baiae, which was once one of the great cities of the Roman Empire.
Due to intense volcanic eruptions over 2,000 years, this city peculiarly went underwater, creating this unique phenomenon. Nowadays, many people wear diving suits to visit this submerged city, navigating the alleyways of Baiae.
Since ancient times, we have seen various cities that, for various reasons, have submerged underwater. Dwarka is recognized as one of the oldest cities in India, and according to legends, it had 70,000 palaces dedicated to Lord Krishna. The city flourished until his death and then sank beneath the Gomti River. Many artifacts are now gradually being recovered, bringing life to this ancient tale.
Among the many wonders of the underwater world is the sewn ship from the Bronze Age in Croatia, dating back to 1200 years before Christ. This 3,000-year-old artifact was discovered in 2014 on the slopes of Zambratija Cove, and, astonishingly, much of it remains untouched to this day.
The Italian sculptor Guido Galletti created this brilliant underwater marvel, which is one of the most extraordinary works in the world. This statue, located in the waters of San Fruttuoso, Italy, is considered one of the wonders of this region. As such, the statue is about 10 meters below the surface and 2.5 meters in length. Interestingly, the original statue is located in the Mediterranean Sea.
This 18-foot-tall statue, located in the depths of Nassau’s coast in the Bahamas, is the world’s largest underwater statue. The Ocean Atlas statue, created by Jason deCaires Taylor, depicts a girl carrying a heavy burden on her shoulders. Hence, this extraordinary statue, made of a neutral pH specific cement, can be considered one of the most exciting underwater wonders.
Nearly 200 years have passed since the sinking of the American warship Hamilton in Lake Ontario. This ship was rediscovered in the 1970s and, considering its time submerged underwater, it has remained relatively intact. So much so that all the cannons inside the ship are still in pristine and untouched condition. This ship is considered one of the most beautiful underwater wonders.
The Green Lake in Austria, is considered one of the most extraordinary underwater wonders of the world. The park surrounding Green Lake submerges underwater in the summer. Ice and snow from the surrounding mountains in Austria melt, transforming the park into a lake. Divers can swim among the green branches filled with benches, trees, and plants, and explore the vast depths.
Imagine thousands of harmless jellyfish swimming beside you in a secluded lake. In Jellyfish Lake on the coasts of Koror in Palau, you can even caress these jellyfish, whose stings are very ineffective in harming humans. Just avoid the hydrogen sulfide layer located at depths of 15 to 20 meters in this underwater natural wonder.
Another underwater marvel is Cocos Island, which belongs to the golden triangle of Galapagos, Malpelo, and Cocos, and is one of the best places for hardcore diving. There are over 20 different diving spots teeming with hammerhead sharks, silky, blacktip, tiger, guitar, and silver-tip sharks, white-tip reef sharks, marbled, manta, eagle, and mobula rays surrounding the area.
You should know that many parts of this island also appeared in the Jurassic Park movie.
It’s worth noting that a significant portion of the wonders under the seas pertains to structures that have fallen into the depths, undergoing natural transformations. These transformed relics now stand as attractions in the ocean’s depths.
So,the most famous among these is the remains of the Titanic shipwreck, which rests at a depth of 3.7 kilometers in the Atlantic Ocean, south of Newfoundland.
In addition to this, one can mention the Castle Donaught ship near the coral cliffs of Hawaii’s Kohala, the Paul Palmer ship at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, sunken locomotives from the mid-19th century, and many more.
Life on the surface might have distanced our imagination from the unknown underwater world, but with time and the discovery of the unknown, we can also delve into the beauty and grandeur of the underwater world. These natural beauties have sometimes emerged due to unfortunate incidents, erosion of rocks, or countless other reasons. Nonetheless, in this article, we have taken you to the unknown underwater world to become more familiar with the grandeur and vastness of this strange world.