The Amazing Hidden Beach

    The Amazing Hidden Beach

The Hidden Beach of Marieta Island, or the “Beach of Love,” a beach tucked away within a cluster of uninhabited islands a few miles off of Riviera Nayarit in Mexico. In the early 1900s the military used the sight for weapons testing until scientist Jacques Cousteau advocated for its protection. Now, the Hidden Beach area is fully prohibited by the Mexican Government.

   A gaping hole in the surface of the lush green island exposes a secret beach, with ample shade, sun, and crystal-clear water.

The Hidden Beach is invisible from the outside, and is only accessible through a long water tunnel that links the beach to the Pacific Ocean. There is approximately six feet of space above water level, so visitors can arrive at the beach by swimming or kayaking. The islands are still uninhabited, but are frequently visited by tourists who come to enjoy the diverse marine wildlife and the unique tropical Eden of Playa Del Amor.

In order to get there, tourists need to chartering a boat or finding a tour, like Vallarta Adventures, out to Marieta Islands National Park, a 45-minute ride from Nayarit. You’ll need to take a boat that has a special permit, and plan on arriving at low tide. Your guide will point you in the right direction from here, helping you locate a small space between the rocks on the main island. This is your 40-foot tunnel swim, but don’t hold your breath: There will always be five to six feet of space over your head for the duration of the paddle.

This is the landform of Marieta Island. It is the rarest place in the world because the beach only has one in the world. 

Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Maranhão, Brazil

Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Maranhão, Brazil

The Lençóis Maranhenses National Park (Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses) is a national park located in Maranhão state, in northeastern Brazil, just east of the Baía de São José. It is an area of low, flat, occasionally flooded land, overlaid with large, discrete sand dunes. It encompasses roughly 1,500 km2 (580 sq mi), and despite abundant rain, supports almost no vegetation. The area became a National Park on June 2, 1981.

Composed of large, white, sweeping dunes, at first glance Lençóis Maranhenses looks like an archetypal desert, but in fact it is not an actual one. Lying just outside the Amazon Basin, the region is subject to a regular rain season during the beginning of the year. The rains cause a peculiar phenomenon: fresh water collects in the valleys between sand dunes and is prevented from percolating down by a layer of impermeable rock which lies underneath the sand.

The resulting blue, green and black "lagoons" are surrounded by the desert-like sand, and reach their fullest between July and September.

The lagoons have large numbers of fish that arrive when the lagoons are at their fullest after July, when they are interconnected to rivers such as the Rio Negro. One species of fish, the wolf fish or tiger fish (Hoplias malabaricus) stays dormant in the mud and moist areas after the majority of the water has evaporated, re-emerging during the next rainy season.

Location :02°32′S 43°07′W

Tunnel of Love, Ukraine

Tunnel of Love, Ukraine

For those of us who are head over heals in love, here’s a new destination to consider. The Tunnel of Love, located in Ukraine, used to be just another train rail section, but eventually turned into one of the most romantic spots on Earth. As trees were left to grow freely around the rails, the passing train was the only thing shaping its way through. Eventually, by crossing the Kleven village forest back and forth three times a day, the train shaped a closed tunnel according to it’s size.

The line starts at Klevan station, on the Kovel-Rivne line, and reaches the northern area of Orzhiv, also served by a station on the main line. The whole line is about 6.4 km long and about 4.9 km is covered by forest, within which this botanical phenomenon stretches anywhere from 3 to said 4.9 km, depending on how individuals count it.

Coordinates :50.7509°N 26.0461°E