Photograph by Modagaja on Panoramio Located in the mouth of Banderas Bay are the beautiful Las Marietas Islands, about 22 nautical miles west of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Formed by volcanic activity over thousands of years, the islands are a nationally protected bird sanctuary, also providing shelter for countless marine species. After years of scientific…
KAMCHATKA ICE CAVE, RUSSIA Photograph by Marc Szeglat @ vulkane.net In the incredible photo by Marc Szeglat (taken Sept. 12, 2012), we see a surreal-looking ice cave on the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia. It was formed by a stream flowing from the hot springs associated with the Mutnovsky Volcano. This stream flows…
ASH CAVE AT HOCKING HILLS Photograph by Bryan Olesen on Flickr In this beautiful photo by Bryan Olesen, we see the popular Ash Cave in Hocking Hills, Ohio. Located in the southernmost reaches of Hocking Hills, Ash Cave is the largest recess cave in the state of Ohio. The horseshoe-shaped cave measures…
Soreq Cave, also known as Avshalom Cave or Stalactite Cave, is a 5,000 m2 cave on the western side of Mt. Ye’ela, in the Judean hills of Israel. Discovered by accident in May 1968 while quarrying with explosives, it is 83m (272 ft) long, 60m (197 ft) wide, and 15m (49ft) high. Like other…
Ordinskaya or the Orda Cave is the longest underwater cave in Russia. Accoridng to the Orda Cave Awareness Project it is the first and only underwater gypsum excursion cave in the world. The two founders of the project are Vitya Lyagushkin, a famous underwater photographer, journalist and dive-instructor; and Bogdana Vashchenko, a diving journalist.…
Melissani cave can be found on the east coast of the island of Kefalonia in Greece. It is located about 2 km from the town of Sami and 10 km from the town of Argostoli. The caves are surrounded by forests, while a mountain slope is located to the west. Below you will find…
EXTRAORDINARY ICE CAVE IN ICELAND Photograph by SHY COHEN This extraordinary image by Shy Cohen was EarthShots.org’s photo of the day for February 16, 2012. It’s one of the many ice caves in Iceland and a nature photographer’s dream. Shy captured the scene with a Canon 7D (10-22). He also emphasizes the…
In the town of Polignano a Mare in southern Italy (province of Bari, Apulia), lies a most unique dining experience at the Grotta Palazzese. Open only during the summer months, a restaurant is created inside a vaulted limestone cave, looking outwards toward the sea. The restaurant is part of the Grotta Palazzese hotel…
THE GREAT DESCENT Photograph by CHRIS MCLENNAN Posted this weekend on Reddit, a TinEye search revealed the photographer to be Chris McLennan, a travel, adventure and tourism photographer (check out his site, his work is awesome!). This stunning shot was taken at the beautiful Waitomo Caves in New Zealand. The Waitomo Caves…
Photograph by Bill and Ben and Little Weed The Jeita Grotto is a compound of two separate but interconnected karstic limestone caves spanning an overall length of nearly 9 kilometers (5.6 mi). The caves are situated in the Nahr al-Kalb valley within the locality of Jeita, 18 kilometres (11 mi) north of the…
