Two days ago we ended the grandest of all excursions with a trip to Ha Long Bay. Imagine the floating islands in the movie Avatar; now add water. That is what Ha Long Bay looks like and it is absolutely gorgeous. When we arrived at Ha Long Bay we boarded a private boat and ate lunch while looking out at these things:
So what are these "things?" UNESCO gave the best geological explanation so I decided to borrow their words...." The geomorphology of Ha Long Bay is known as a drowned karst landscape due to the exceptional combination of its limestone karst features which have been subject to repeated regression and transgression of the sea over geological time. The limesones of Ha Long Bay have been eroded into a mature landscape of fengcong (clusters of conical peaks) and fenglin (isolated tower feature) karst features modified by sea invasion at a later stage." There are thousands of these limestone karsts scattered across Ha Long Bay. I had no idea what a karst was, and I am assuming that everyone, excluding my lovely sister Hannah the geology major, is also clueless (or maybe I just really don't know my earth science) Anyways the definition of a karst: a landscape underlain by limestone that has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures, sinkholes, and other characteristic landforms. I can't even describe how amazing it was to just to stare at these magnificent works of nature. But it got ten times better when we got to kayak around them! Mikala and I paired up in a tandem kayak and explored the bay. Since I have already lost one camera to Vietnam I decided to play it safe and leave it on the boat, but I really wish I had brought it since it would have been perfectly okay in the kayak. However, Alex was brave and brought hers so I am stealing a few of her photos.
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| Some of the karsts formed really cool caves. Photo: Alex |
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| Photo: Alex |
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| Photo: Alex |
But our day wasn't over. We went spelunking in two ginormous caves. I actually felt very light headed when I emerged from cave number two because my head was constantly swiveling and looking up then down to see all of the amazing stalagmites and stalactites.
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| That little white speck in the middle is Katia. I am telling you this cave was HUGE! |
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I'm not really sure what the purpose of the
colored lights was. |
We boarded the boat and headed back to shore while watching another beautiful sunset.
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| Goodbye sun. |
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| Hello moon. |
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| Our boat. |
So what are these "things?" UNESCO gave the best geological explanation so I decided to borrow their words...." The geomorphology of Ha Long Bay is known as a drowned karst landscape due to the exceptional combination of its limestone karst features which have been subject to repeated regression and transgression of the sea over geological time. The limesones of Ha Long Bay have been eroded into a mature landscape of fengcong (clusters of conical peaks) and fenglin (isolated tower feature) karst features modified by sea invasion at a later stage." There are thousands of these limestone karsts scattered across Ha Long Bay. I had no idea what a karst was, and I am assuming that everyone, excluding my lovely sister Hannah the geology major, is also clueless (or maybe I just really don't know my earth science) Anyways the definition of a karst: a landscape underlain by limestone that has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures, sinkholes, and other characteristic landforms. I can't even describe how amazing it was to just to stare at these magnificent works of nature. But it got ten times better when we got to kayak around them! Mikala and I paired up in a tandem kayak and explored the bay. Since I have already lost one camera to Vietnam I decided to play it safe and leave it on the boat, but I really wish I had brought it since it would have been perfectly okay in the kayak. However, Alex was brave and brought hers so I am stealing a few of her photos. 
Legit when Sadie showed me the photos I was like, "oh, those are limestone karsts" haha.
ReplyDeleteThese are AMAZING! I have always wanted to go into caves like these, they put my baby cave experiences to shame. That's so cool that you went spelunking too! Props to Alex for the awesome photos