There are a few things you might expect to see while swimming off the coast of a Caribbean island: white sand, dazzling corals and maybe even a curious reef fish coming to check you out.
Catching a glimpse of a half-mile trail of huge paving slabs is probably at the bottom of your list of anticipated underwater sightings.
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But if you happened to be snorkelling in Bimini, Bahamas, this puzzling sight is exactly what you might stumble – or should I say paddle – upon.
Off the coast of Alice Town, North Bimini, is a long stretch of rectangular rocks lined up like stepping stones just five or six metres below the surface. They carry on for around half a mile.
This long formation of large limestone slabs is the Bimini Road, also sometimes called the Bimini Wall. Some of the chunks are four metres long.
There’s a disappointingly simple explanation for how this submarine highway came to be. “Most marine geologists and archaeologists conclude that the stones are naturally formed beachrock,” writes Discover Bahamas on its website. “Over thousands of years, coastal limestone became cemented, fractured into block-like shapes, and was later submerged as sea levels changed following the last Ice Age.”
The structure was discovered in 1968 after being hidden below the sea for thousands of years. Experts believe the Bimini Road was formed around 2,000 years ago.
Not everyone is persuaded by the geologists’ theory. As with many odd ocean discoveries, some people have squabbled over the true cause of this phenomenon. After all, they say, isn’t it strange that the blocks are so organised?
There have been suggestions that this could be an ancient road or wall that became submerged or even that it was part of the remains of the legendary Lost City of Atlantis.
“The theory gained popularity after psychic Edgar Cayce predicted in the 1930s that evidence of Atlantis would be discovered near Bimini in the late 1960s – shortly before the underwater formation was found,” adds Discover Bahamas. “While this story continues to attract visitors, no accepted archaeological evidence has confirmed a human-built origin.”
As exciting as it would be to think the mythical Atlantis was real and had been discovered in the Bahamas, the geological explanation that beachrock fractured into pavement-like segments is more likely.
It might seem odd that a natural formation could have such an even pattern but this isn’t the first time an orderly road-like structure has been found in the ocean.
In 2022, marine scientists discovered another underwater pathway that looked like it had been paved by humans. It was more than 1,000 metres deep in the Pacific Ocean and looked like it was made of yellow bricks – it seemed to be something straight out of the Wizard of Oz.
Although Bimini Road is a popular site for scuba divers, it’s shallow enough that snorkellers can see it from the surface when conditions are clear – although you need a boat to get there as it’s around three miles offshore.
The main draw is to see the huge underwater cobblestones but there are also soft corals, fishes, nudibranchs and crustaceans. With any luck, there’s also a good chance of seeing spotted dolphins as a pod is said to hang around here regularly.
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