Remains of an Underwater Habitat left by 1960s Sea Dwellers

It was an ambitious, otherwordly idea, dreamt up by American military physician, Dr. Bond, deemed too risky and ultimately rejected by the US Navy. Bond then turned to French diving/ filmmaking pioneer Jacques Cousteau and his ‘Calypso’ diving team, who accepted the challenge, never before attempted by man, to build an underwater colony where divers…

So Today I Went Shopping for a Used Submarine

“So apparently Vancouver has something of a submarine graveyard,” says graphic designer/ photographer Emanuel Smedbøl alongside his instagram photos that popped up on my newsfeed and subsequently sent me into a spiral of google searches, from “used research submarines for sale” to “de-militarised Russian sub for cheap“. (I’m easily distracted). Alas, it’s not as easy…

Japanese Mermaids: Ancient Pearl Hunters of the Sea

These women are the last of their kind. In their floral wetsuits, they fill their lungs with air and dive for long periods of time deep into the Pacific ocean, with nothing more than a mask and flippers. They are known as Ama and make a living hunting for abalone, a sea snail that produces pearls.…

The Last Japanese Mermaids

For nearly two thousand years, Japanese women living in coastal fishing villages made a remarkable livelihood hunting the ocean for oysters and abalone, a sea snail that produces pearls. They are known as Ama, and if you’ve dipped into Messy Nessy’s archives, you will have already met the few ladies still left in Japan that…

Abandoned 1960s French Riviera Film set: A Miniature Underwater City Before & After

A room with uninterrupted sea views? Admittedly, it might need a bit of work but this underwater hotel has become a bit of an institution with local fish who have been checking in since the 1960s. At 30 meters below sea level near a lighthouse called La Fourmigue, off the Cap d’Antibes, lies the remains…

Underwater Crop Circles Discovered

They could be the work of a talented scuba diver using precise tools and measurements, but they’re not. Japanese underwater photographer Yoji Ookata, discovered these mysterious circles after almost 50 years of exploring our underwater world. Eighty feet below sea-level and approximately 6.5ft in diameter, Yoji, nor anyone else, had ever seen anything like it. So who…

The Ghost Trains sent to an Underwater Grave

“Seeing these massive mechanisms being tossed into the ocean like a toy in the bathtub is a ping in my heart.” Award-winning photographer Stephen Mallon captured these incredible pictures over three years as he documented the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s recycling program retire the remains of obsolete New York subway cars into the Atlantic ocean. Over…

Oh, Just an Abandoned Shopping Mall Turned Giant Fish Pond

There was no way I wasn’t going to share this odd little story with you that’s been swimming around on the internet (mind the pun). An abandoned mall, formerly the New World Mall in Bangkok, has become overrun by hungry consumers of a different sort; of a finned and scaly nature… Fish! Thousands of fish have taken up…

Shark Observes an Underwater Ping Pong Match

(c) Bettmann/Corbis. The New Yorker magazine put together a slideshow of historical exercise photos. The bizarre line-up includes this underwater ping pong match (being observed by a sand shark at the marine studios in Orlando, Florida, 1947), playing golf in medieval armour and making the bed on one leg. See the full slideshow here.

The Mysterious Dome Homes Marching into the Sea: Then & Now

For many years, these bizarre buildings on the isolated southern tip of Marco Island in Cape Romano, Florida, were a bit of a mystery. Some locals and abandoned explorers thought it might have been the community home belonging to a secret cult while other rumours went as far as claiming they had been left behind…