Underwater volcanoe Mahangetang Island

Underwater volcanoe at Mahengetang island is one of the submarine volcano located in Sangihe islands, northern Sulawesi, indonesia, precisely on Mahengetang island. The peak of this mountain is called Banua Wuhu.
Banua Wuhu peak has an altitude of approximately 400 meters from the sea, and 6 meters of sea level measured from the ebb of water (according to my own pilotage calculations), is quite shallow is not it?. Mahengetang itself is located between Siau and Sangihe Island (Sangihe islands), and the location of this mountain around latitude and longitude (3 ° 08 'North / 125 ° 26' East).

Underwater volcanoe (img from FB Group Sangihe)

According to the story, this volcano is some of the islands during the 19th and 20th, one as high as 90m (in the year 1835) but they all disappeared after a year later. In 1904 there are five craters, others formed a new island in 1919 had disappeared in 1935! And now the volcano is located entirely underwater.

because this is a volcanic then the water temperature around the underwater volcano Mahengetang can reach 37-38 degrees Celsius. If you visit there once advised to be careful when diving or snorklin ! the current flow enough strong, so if you see bubbles in the rocks, crater or top of the mountain, Do not try to put your bare hands into the bubble will cause your hands blistered.

Mahengetang, besides having a submarine volcano, it also has an enough beauty under the sea natural. If diving in these waters you will find marine biota by close range. Simply dive into the 10-20 meter, you can see the stretch of coral colonies that are very close.
No surprised if this beauty underwater becoming one of North Sulawesi tourism object that most attractive for foreign tourists, even included of Top 10 Cool & Unusual Dive Object along with "Underwater Cemetery The Neptune Memorial Reef Maimi, Florida" and "Underwater Museum of Cancun's National Park in Mexico".

Volcanoe Underwater (Mahangetang)

Access to the under Sea Volcano Mahengetang

If formerly, from Tahuna town (Capital city of District Sangihe) usually just use regular engine suspension boat, but take long enough can reach 4 hours. then now, has many advanced transportation there such as fast speed boat and other fast boats capable to deliver to Mahengetang with take time no more than 1 hour.
If you are in Manado, yyou can directly use speedboat, takes around 5 hours only.

You are a tourists, and curious like what the completion of this underwater mountain? Just try directly to the Mahengetang Island, Sangihe, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

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Unique,, Lake Above Sea at East Kalimantan

Deep in the interior of East Kalimantan (Borneo) Indonesia, lie the "Labuan-Cermin Lake", a unique lake above sea. This limpid Lake is special because it has the sea at the bottom. Sea at the bottom of the lake? True, this lake has a flow of salt water exists only in the bottom of the lake.

Labuan-Cermin Lake is located in the District of "Biduk-biduk", East Kalimantan. If viewed on a map, it was right at the back of the nose of Borneo Island. This place can be reached by boat within three hours from Derawan (a place in east kalimantan).

East Kalimantan's Lake Above Sea

The top of the Labuan-Cermin Lake contains fresh water as the common lake. But there are a few feet at the bootom,flowing of salt water. strangely, both types of water is not mixed. In the visible can be seen that the sea water and fresh water are separated by a similar layer of clouds.
No one has done research in this area so that the formation of this phenomenon remains a mystery.

White turbid layer was allegedly the basis of harbor spoilage organisms that are trapped and can not go. Two types of water in the lake is also presenting the organism of both worlds. Freshwater fish live on the surface, while the sea-water fish can be found at the bottom of the lake.

When we was there, incidentally is a thin layer of fresh water. the crew diving to taste the salty water at a depth of about two meters. Apparently, the thickness of the layer of fresh water and salt water can be changed according to the ebb and flow of sea water.

This small lake surrounded by woods and there are towering cliffs on one side. We were treated a forest music while swimming - the sound of birds and insects. Not surprisingly, the lake is named Labuan-Cermin (Mirror): the water was crystal clear even people can reflect on it. Currents in some places is quite powerful and easy to drag the people who can not swim.

To reach this place we had to ride past the fishermen and canoe trips for 15 minutes, through the bushes and mangrove forests. The forest was still inhabited by a variety of wild animals such as monkeys, proboscis monkeys, otters and bears.

Because the distance is quite far from the city, rarely or hardly any tourists who visit the place. This place is only known by local people from the surrounding area. Facilities and infrastructure were still sober. Where we stayed was a Fisherman Information Center (FIC) assisted by the Nature Conservancy. an environmental activist organization invited us to visit this place.

IC is shaped house on stilts on the banks of the estuary of a river, only a few hundred meters from the sea. The house has such a small dock for a boat anchor. The river in front of the FIC is brackish watery. Its salinity depending on the ebb and flow of sea water. When the sea receded, the river became very clear so the bottom can be seen clearly.

From the porch we could see the fish milling about. Ard (name) a fisherman's son who love to play in the lake explaining us the kinds of fish. There are many prickly fish, there are sting fish and a long flat-bodied fish. Not only visited by the fishermen, the FIC is also a gathering place for the children of fishermen who want to watch the marine life movies or read about the collections.

It was getting dark when some fishermen went to sea. As we spent the evening with a cup of coffee on the porch and looked at the river and the moon almost full. A peace Atmosphere that dificult to find in the city.

by Dewi

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