Scientists Are Planning on Plunging Into the World's 'Portal to Hell'
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Sinkholes filled with water, also known as blue holes, completely surround the island nation of The Bahamas, and now OceanGate’s co-founder wants to explore the deepest of them all.
Known as Dean’s Blue Hole, this geological wonder located off the coast of Long Island is a staggering 663 feet deep, making it one of the deepest blue holes in the world and also an area ripe for exploration.
Unlike last year’s doomed OceanGate voyage, this journey will only be available to “professional scientists, underwater experts and local research institutions”—in other words, no tourists allowed.
Blue holes are some of the most mysterious geological phenomena on Earth. Beginning as underwater caves formed during the past Ice Age, they formed sinkholes as the ice caps receded and water levels rose. When these holes eventually filled with water, they formed the fascinating underwater pits that have tantalized scientists and researchers.
Although blue holes can be found around the world—in fact, one of the largest blue holes ever discovered is in the South China Sea—the Bahamas has the highest concentration of these geological wonders. While more than 200 of these blue holes can be found encircling the country’s largest island, Andros, the most perplexing of these holes is found southwest of Andros around Long Island.
Called Dean’s Blue Hole (named after a Bahamian fisherman), this impressive marine formation, located in a protected bay west of Clarence Town, is the third-deepest blue hole in the world, measuring at a staggering 663 feet deep—most blue holes are only half that deep. Because of its immense stature, free divers have broken world records in its waters and many local legends say it’s actually a portal to hell.
Although scientists have estimated its depth, no human has ever visited the bottom. OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Söhnlein wants to change that. Although Söhnlein founded OceanGate with Stockton Rush in 2009, he left the company in 2013—a full decade before the OceanGate submersible implosion that claimed the lives of five people (including Rush) while exploring the wreckage of the Titanic. Now Söhnlein helms another company, Blue Marble Exploration, which aims to explore some of the most unreachable parts of the world.
Of course, there are a few things that differentiate this mission from last year’s doomed implosion. For one, this blue hole isn’t nearly as deep as the Titanic, which rests in the bathypelagic zone some 12,500 feet below the water’s surface. However, exploring Dean’s Blue Hole comes with some additional challenges, as the team will likely encounter human remains during its exploration, as many divers have died in recent years exploring the site or attempting world records. In 2013, for example, American freediver Nicholas Mevoli died while attempting to set a world record at the Blue Hole.
According to the company’s website, the team plans to conduct “the first comprehensive scientific survey of the area” using remotely operated vehicle technology, and Söhnlein confirmed with The Independent that the expedition would only feature trained professionals and scientists, not tourists. It’s not known when exactly this expedition will get underway.
While exploring the “portal to hell” is quite the adventure, it pales in comparison to some of Söhnlein’s other lofty plans for exploration, including a 1,000-person expedition to start a colony in the atmosphere of Venus, which has also been described as a “virtual hell.”
I’m sensing a theme here.
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