Some people just have a natural love for exploration. There are countless videos and articles all over the internet about people exploring volcanoes, deep jungles, and even the dark depths of the ocean. Many of us would never think to put ourselves at such a huge risk like this just for the sake of seeing what possible treasures can be discovered. Sometimes the findings make the risks involved more than worth it. But other times, it’s the findings themselves that make you wish the risks were all that you had to be worried about. The team of divers in this story can never unsee what they were unlucky enough to come across.
The Great Blue Hole located off the coast of Belize is the word’s largest ocean sinkhole known to man, measuring approximately 1,000 feet across and about 400 feet in depth. It has become an extremely popular diving site over the years, but its internal structure, features lie at the very bottom still remained a mystery, until December 2018 when an expedition into The Great Blue Hole took place.
It’s important to note that once you get to a certain point deep enough in The Great Blue Hole, there is zero oxygen present there, meaning that absolutely nothing can survive down towards the bottom. This is also a very common spot where divers go missing due to not having the slightest clue that they’re not going to be able to survive if they venture too far down.
As the expedition team was traveling deeper and deeper, they noticed some strange looking conch shells. Again, nothing is able to live down there, but the shells themselves still looked a little bizarre compared to the usual conch shells people are used to seeing. When the team finally reached the bottom, the noticed some strange tracks in the sand that circled around each other with no indication or clue around as to who or what made them. The team decided to leave the tracks alone and not alter them in any way.
Near where the submarine was parked, they also saw a few caves. Most of the caves had their roofs collapsed, but one cave looked as though it was in good condition and able to be entered. Inside the cave, there were many stalactites, some even as big as 40 feet in length. Stalactites are formed due to the slow drips of water and the crystallization of minerals. Since it’s not possible for water to drip underwater, this meant that at one point these caves were above water. The team kept going, but the further they went inside the caves, the darker it became. The lights they carried didn’t have unlimited battery life, so they had to be careful and choose wisely when to utilize the lights. Everything was going according to plan until the divers bumped into something. Since it didn’t appear to be possible to continue advancing, they decided to turn on one of the lights to see what was in their way. When they were able to see what it was, their hearts certainly stopped for a few seconds.
They came across what at first looked to be a ring of mannequins. This obviously not being possible, had to mean that they were either statues, or bodies. The team came to the conclusion that they were more than likely bodies due to the fact that the Great Blue Hole was known for having divers go missing while trying to explore. What happened here, is that a big team of divers was exploring, together, then their lights must have run out of battery life. So then the divers not having any sort of light source, couldn’t make their way out of the cave before running out of oxygen to breathe. At this point, the expedition team decided that they had seen enough and it was time to go back to the surface to report their findings.
When they arrived back at the surface, the first thing they did was alert the authorities about what they found. No one was going to go back down and get the remains, but at least the authorities could get an idea of where some of the missing people reported in the area may very well be. Maybe some of the people involved, as well as their families, could finally be at peace. But even with what they, unfortunately, had to come across, the expedition was a huge success. The team was able to find out some of what’s truly at the bottom of the Great Blue Hole.
At this time, there are no present plans for another expedition to take place. But in the future, scientists would love to have another opportunity to explore other parts down there. Maybe they can find some other fascinating remains, or more about ‘the underwater cave-system’ that they had the chance to explore.
Even though exploring to this extreme isn’t for everyone, It’s always interesting to see and hear about what’s uncovered in the dark depths of the ocean.
