#846 Isla Gorgona, Colombia

 

34km off Colombia's wild and mangroved Pacific coast lies the mysterious island of Gorgona, so named for the hundreds of snakes present when Pizarro's ship stopped there in 1524. For a long time a prison and forbidden to outsiders, it is now a majestic holiday resort of wild jungle trails, pristine beaches, spectacular diving, and peace and quiet (one small resort and the boats only cross from Guapi, the nearest village and airport, two times a week).

Nature rules here, as is evidenced by the jungle completely reclaiming the prison over the past 30 years, but also by the hundreds of small monkeys, lizards, snakes, birds, and other creatures. My favorite, by far, were the sperm whales that traverse this coast several months of the year with their babies on their way to and from the tropics and Antarctica. Breaking just off the island, breaching and playing or just breathing, they astonish and excite all visitors when they are seen several times a day. 

Source: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isla_Gorgona

#851 Marianas Trench

deepseachallenge.com 

Ever since I was young I've been fascinated with the Marianas trench. The diagram above helps to show why I always found it so amazing -- we always thing about the highest point, Everest, but we rarely think about how deep the earth goes inwards, and the fact that the earth goes further inwards than it does outwards is really quite incredible. At almost 11km deep (5960 fathoms) at 'Challenger Deep' at its southern end, it is further into the earth than we can go outward although both extremes suffer from too much pressure -- altitude sickness, oxygen deprivation, atmospheric pressure, etc. I just wish it wasn't so inaccessible! 

And even though there are areas of the Arctic ocean floor that go closer to the earth's core (because Earth is not a perfect sphere and the Marianas is at its widest point in the tropics), it is a phenomenal place.

Cool facts:

• It is 1 to 4 degrees C at the bottom.
• Xenophyophores are a microbial bacteria life form found deep in the trench.
• The Marianas Islands were claimed by Spain in 1668.
• The trench was first 'sounded' in the 1870s.
• In 1995, an unmanned remote controlled Japanese vehicle completed the deepest dive on record.
• Four manned descents have been made, the first in 1960, and the most recent by director James Cameron in 2012.
• Sole, flounder and shrimp have been observed at the bottom.
• It has been proposed as a place for nuclear waste disposal, in hopes that the tectonic movements will eventually push the waste under the earth and into the earth's mantle. Thank goodness it's prohibited by international law!

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Trench

#902 Boracay, Philippines

Idyllic, beautiful Boracay, the pride of Philippine beaches for decades, and a truly well-deserved reputation for spectacular gorgeousness! It's an island in the Visayas, and not so easy to get to considering the nearest airport is a banca boat and van/bus ride away. But of course, it's been years since I went and am sure the infrastructure is improved since 2001! What more to say about a picture-perfect, motorbikable, wanderable island in the warm Pacific Ocean with diving and snorkelling and suntanning?

 

Apologies, once again, for the poor quality scans of film photos. All you have to do is close your eyes and imagine crisp white sand beaches, turquoise oceans and tranquility and you're there, anyway.

#930 Shark and Ray Alley, Caye Caulker, Belize

Just off Caye Caulker, south of Ambergris Caye, in Belize's off-shore coral reef, is the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, and one of it's special features is a snorkelling site called Shark (and) Ray Alley. The reason it is so called is because it's almost guaranteed that you will see sharks and rays when you visit! Beautiful nurse sharks either circle around you  or sleep on the ocean floor. Southern sting rays hide on the sandy bottom or float gracefully past. All this in only a couple of meters of water!

Some videos!

Source: http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/parksharkrayalley.html

#956 The Blue Hole, Belize

I have never really been a destination diver, but more of an opportunistic one: When there's a dive shop and good diving and I have time, I'll try and fit in a dive or two. The Blue Hole in Belize is an exception, however. Two hours boat ride from the nearest caye through open water, the Blue Hole has to be something you are determined to get to. And it's worth it.

It's a deep dive (120 ft/40m) so quite short (around 8 mins at the bottom), with not so many fish or coral, although sharks are common. What I loved the most were the massive stalactites that we swam through at our deepest depth -- bigger than I've seen in most land caves, but very unique to be seen underwater (they only grow on land, of course). It was formed as a cave in the limestone millions of years ago and collapsed into a cenote. With the rise in sea levels most likely just after the last ice age, it is now underwater in the middle of a pristine, magical reef (Lighthouse Atoll) near the second largest barrier reef in the world (running the entire length of Belize's coast). Amazing place!

 

Sources of photos: Please note that these photos are not my own. I simply did not have the equipment to take deep dive photos and neither the time nor the money to do a fly over. Credit for these photos should go to: ambergriscaye.com, tahitiangoddess.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/great-blue-hole-belize/, uecophotoexplorers.com, www.gadling.com/2008/07/15/belize-it-or-not-diving-the-blue-hole/, lonelyplanet.com, http://rumshopryan.com/2010/08/27/worlds-largest-blue-hole-belize-diving/