An underwater park is a preserved habitat for recreational use. Usually, the government of a country initiates the underwater parks to ensure the security for the organisms residing in the ecosystem of a specific habitat. To create an underwater park it requires a specific area under a sea or a lake. Underwater marine parks across the globe have been very attractive for the lovers of marine life. They want to explore the underwater parks and have an experience of the different marine ecologies. Let us discuss few of the very popular underwater parks that have been successful in attracting more number of visitors annually.
Maritime Historical Underwater Park
Maritime historical underwater park is located at the wreck site of the Kronprins Gustav Adolf off Helsinki, Finland. The park started functioning in the summer of 2000 and has been tested by many marine divers for quality assurance. The underwater park displays the historical maritime findings and concentrates on preserving them for a long time. This marine park is around 19 to 21 meters in depth. This underwater site does not have strong current so it can be very safe for the marine divers. The visibility underwater is between 1 to 10 meters and the average visibility remains at 4 to 6 meters. There are no entrance fees or diving charges by the park. It remains open during the summer and anyone who knows underwater diving can avail the benefits of the park.
Edmonds Underwater Park
Edmonds underwater park is one of the most popular underwater parks existing all over the world. It is located to the north of the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry that lands to the foot of the main street. It is stretched across 27 acres of tide and bottom lands. The park was established in 1970 as a marine preserve and sanctuary by city ordinance. This underwater park remains successful in attracting around 25,000 scuba divers every year. There are facilities such as parking area, changing rooms, rest rooms, shower, and foot wash system to make the visitors feel at home. There was a 325-foot De Lion Dry Dock and that sunk in 1935.
However, it remains one of the popular attractions of the park. The primary attraction of this underwater park is the manmade reefs constructed concrete blocks, tractor tires, PVC pipes of various sizes, sunken navigation buoys, an old tree trunk, sunken boats & ships, old pieces of the 520 floating bridge and so on. This reef provides a habitat for a number of marine animals and has created a marine ecology around the reef. A public information map has been designed to help people know about the underwater structure. However, this map is not advised to be used by the divers as the underwater features keep changing on a regular basis.
Emerald Bay
Emerald bay got the status of an underwater park in 1994. The park provides an excellent experience to the scuba divers. You will be able to avail the chance of witnessing and touching the artifacts of an age long past. Emerald bay provides a resting place for many boats, launches and barges used in the lake before the turn of the century whenVikingsholm was under construction. The artifacts are preserved by the state laws and should not be hampered anyways. A mooring buoy was installed by the collaboration of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum and the California Department of Parks and Recreation in 1994. The mooring buoy was installed in the barge dive site located on the southern shore of Emerald Bay. A lot of artifacts such as telephone batteries, old tires, sinks, toilets, an old pier, a diving platform can be found while diving in Emerald Bay.
San Diego – La Jolla Underwater Park
The San Diego-La Jolla underwater park is considered to be the heaven for the snorkelers and scuba divers. The park was established in 1970 by the City of San Diego. This whole park is a combination of the Ecological Reserve and the Marine Life Refuge. The park is stretched over an area of 6000 acre on ocean bottoms and tidelands. Two artificial underwater reefs were created to attract the visitors. One of the reefswas built in 1964 and was located near Scripps Canyon with a depth of 70 feet. The second reef was built in 1975 with a depth of 40 feet. The reefs help in keeping the waves minimal. As a result, it creates an entry point for the divers and kayakers. The park also provides the visitors with great opportunities of fishing and watching fish, dolphins, seals, and birds.
Underwater Park in Austria
The underwater park in Austria is located in Green Lake in Styria. The park becomes very crowded in the summer as it is an attractive destination for underwater divers. The snow from the surrounding mountains melt during the summer and the area fills with clear water to create a huge lake. The water level remains about one to ten meters. The lake has a bench and bridges as well. A diver can enjoy the roads, fish swimming though the branches of trees, a floor covered in grass, benches, bridges and a landscape.