The World’s Most Captivating Lagoons and Blue Holes

Published by nobert soloria bermosa
August 7, 2008, Category: Physical Geography

Explore the water world and discover these fascinating gifts of nature.

Have fun this summer (or next summer or any time of the year) by visiting these beautiful and truly captivating lagoons and blue holes of the water world. You will surely have fun, unforgettable & and one-of-a-kind experience visiting them.

Dean’s Blue Hole: Bahamas

Have fun by scuba diving at the world’s deepest blue hole – the Dean’s Blue Hole. The world’s deepest blue hole plunges 663 feet to the ocean floor, in a bay west of Clarence Town on Long Island, Bahamas. Blue holes are the results of rainwater having soaked through fractures of limestone bedrock onto the water table of glacial sea levels during the Pleistocene epoch (ice age), some 15,000 years ago. The maximum depth of other known blue holes and sinkholes is 360 feet, which makes the 663 ft depth of Dean’s Blue Hole quite exceptional.

Dean’s Blue Hole is roughly circular at the surface, with a diameter ranging from 25 to 35 meters (80 to 120 feet). After descending 20 meters (60 feet), the hole widens considerably into a cavern with a diameter of 100 meters (330 feet).

Great Blue Hole, Underwater Sink Hole: Belize

Ria de Aveiro Lagoon: Portugal

One of the best places to spend your summer vacation is on the blue waters of the Ria de Aveiro. It is the most extensive shallow coastal lagoon in Portugal. It is located on the Western Atlantic coast of Portugal, between Espinho and Cabo Mondego, The area covered by the lagoon corresponds approximately to a minimum of 66 square km, at low spring tides, and a maximum of 83 square km, at high spring tides. An extensive sand barrier exists along the coast, protecting and separating the enclosed lagoon from the Atlantic Ocean.

Laguna Colorada: Bolivia

Feast your eyes by watching lovely birds feed on the shallow waters of Laguna Colorada. Laguna Colorado is a shallow salt lake in the southwest of the altiplano of Bolivia and close to the border with Chile. The lake contains borax islands, whose white color contrasts nicely with the reddish color of its waters, which is caused by red sediments and pigmentation of some algae.

Marovo Lagoon: Solomon Islands

Have fun and enjoy the waters of the world’s largest saltwater lagoon in the world – Marovo Lagoon. You can swim, snorkel, and scuba dive on this lagoon – paradise. It is located in the New Georgia north of Vanguru Island. There are many islands in the lagoon, some of which are inhabited. The people live mainly by subsistence agriculture and fishing and speak the Marovo language. The lagoon is a popular destination for diving.

Lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow salt or brackish water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank, coral reef, or similar feature. Thus, the enclosed body of water behind a barrier reef or barrier islands or enclosed by an atoll reef is called a lagoon.