#sinkhole
flying and swimming at cenote Azul in Bacalar, Mexico
Cenote Azul is nothing less than an amazing body of water – azure, clear water that goes immediately into abyss, right off the edge of its shore. We’ve already described quite a few cenotes in the vicinity of Tulum and Merida, Yucatan. Each cenote is different, but this one is very special. For once, it’s really huge, for a sinkhole, which it essentially is, and it’s right next the world famous…
Sinkholes are like a time capsule, taking us back to how Earth may have appeared approximately 2.5 billion years ago, at the beginning of the Proterozoic Eon.
Since the sinkholes were discovered in 2002, scientists from around the world have collaborated with Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary to research this time capsule.
There are three blue holes along the trail at the Lost River Cave Valley. This is a karsk region with many sinkholes and that is basically what a blue hole is. There are points in the underground river where the water feeds into an opening of a sinkhole then exits at the other side back into the cave. This particular blue hole was described as being “a man-eater.”
In other words, the current beneath the surface is so strong that many people have gone in and they have never come out. They were never found having been taken by the current back into the cave. The Lost River Cave was a Confederate training ground under General John Morgan Hunt during the Civil War. Four Confederate soldiers disappeared into the blue hole and were never found. Federal forces also lost a few troops when they passed through. According to our tour guide, only one person has ever come out of the blue hole who went in with no life line.
The man was an old drunk who careened off the embankment while trying to ride a bicycle. Rescuers with life lines dove in and found the man at the bottom plastered (no pun intended) to a tree trunk lying across the bottom - like a washcloth. They were able to bring him out but, of course, the man was dead.
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The Blue Lake near Imotski, Croatia.Lying in a deep sinkhole, the karst lake in southern Croatia changed into a rare blue color because of heavy rains and sudden flow of underground water. (Xinhua/Ivo Cagalj).
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