渦巻に飲まれたら！

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Imagine, you’re on vacation.
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No, you’re not interested in beachside hangouts or big city tourism.
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You’ve decided to avoid the crowds and go on a quiet adventure to the mountainous landscapes
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of Scandinavia.
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The weather is calm, the nature around you is breathtaking, and this quaint little getaway
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calls for one thing: a nice boat trip down a quiet stream to really take in the views.
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As you venture out from the land, not a single wave disturbs your vessel.
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Nothing speaks of the danger you’re approaching so unknowingly.
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But just as you close your eyes and take in a deep breath of fresh mountain air, you suddenly
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feel your boat take a turn.
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Whatever’s pulling you off course only gets stronger, and your heart starts racing.
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No matter how much you paddle, all your attempts to get the boat under control are in vain.
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That’s when you see it…
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All the water around you has come alive.
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It’s not a smooth peaceful surface anymore, but a bubbling foamy vortex.
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What’s worse, it’s dragging you right into the hungry mouth of a giant beast straight
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from ancient myths!
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And it has a name: the Saltstraumen Maelstrom…
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With a name like that, you might be imagining something like the Kraken.
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But, alas, you’ve found yourself being sucked into the world’s strongest whirlpool.
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“Phew!
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Don’t need to battle any mythical sea monsters today!”
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Hey, don’t let your guard down because you’re not off the hook just yet!
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For centuries these whirlpools, or maelstroms, were a thing of legend.
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There was no explanation for their existence and no power that could get an unfortunate
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ship out of their trap.
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One of the first and most well-known stories about this phenomenon is Homer’s Odyssey.
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It describes a sea beast called Charybdis, a colossal monster, the only visible part
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of which was just its mouth.
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It opened its jaws so wide that it could swallow ships whole!
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Inside the beast, there’s only darkness…
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Is it possible that this image is just an early interpretation of a maelstrom?
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Remember, people couldn’t explain what they were or why they existed, so they came up
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with epic legends to explain the unknown.
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But today, science has given us a better understanding of geological phenomena.
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Still, that doesn’t mean whirlpools aren’t a fascinating example of nature’s awesome
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power!
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Whirlpools are bodies of spinning water that flows towards the center where two currents
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smash into each other.
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The result is the birth of a vortex.
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If you look into the eye of the “beast” you’ll see something strange – the water
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from one current wraps around the water from the other.
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It’s like an intricate dance, both twisting and turning around each other.
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In fact, this process is no different from simple mixing.
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By nature, streams of water try to mix, but their force and speed make the whole process
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much more difficult.
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This is where turbulences come from.
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Another thing that can collide with a current and lead to the creation of a whirlpool is
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wind.
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Now imagine when those two forces come together – wind and water currents whirling around
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in one spot.
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Yes, you get the strongest whirlpools out there!
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The big ones are called maelstroms.
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You might think of it like a vile watery tornado that goes underneath the sea’s surface,
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but that’s far from reality.
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The biggest ones are not fascinating because of their size, but more because they rarely
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appear alone.
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They’re more like a system of smaller whirlpools making the water look like nature itself decided
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it’s laundry day!
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Thus, we return to the king of them all: the Saltstraumen Maelstrom.
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It’s situated on the northern coast of Norway near a town called Bodø.
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Norway is famous for its coastline covered in rocky fjords.
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Those are steep cliffs carved by the immense pressure of icy glaciers.
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A little more than 2,000 years ago, Norway was completely covered in ice.
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But as the climate changed, glaciers started to melt and move.
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Their weight was enough to crush rocks and plow the land as they migrated.
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This is how the Saltfjorden and Skjerstad Fjords were born.
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Between them, a strait appeared – Saltstraumen.
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This name can be translated as “salty stream”.
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And that’s probably because every 6 hours, over 100 billion gallons of salty seawater
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powers through the current in the strait at an impressive 25 mph.
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As a result, the area fills with whirlpools 6 times a day.
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Sometimes it’s just a couple of big maelstroms, and other days there are dozens of them.
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Some can be almost 40 feet in diameter, enough to fit an entire school bus!
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The biggest vortices can reach 16 feet deep, or about the length of your average pickup
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truck.
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So, can a thing like that cause any trouble?
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Well, all I can say is you wouldn’t want to get in the water near such a monstrosity
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on your own.
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The current is ferocious enough to make any effort to swim away almost completely futile.
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And a vortex this size will surely drag anyone underwater within seconds.
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The water here is extremely cold too, so, yeah, getting sucked in would be a bad situation
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to say the least!
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On the other hand, the Saltstraumen Maelstorm poses little to no threat to boats or ships
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nowadays.
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Going through the strait is absolutely manageable even in a small motorboat – today’s engines
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are powerful enough to escape the whirlpool’s grip.
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And no matter how dangerous they are, maelstroms are still a sight to behold.
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Bodø became a popular tourist spot because of them.
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There’s a huge bridge going across the strait, and it’s now an observation point for awestruck
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sightseers to witness the power that is the world’s strongest whirlpool.
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Another huge maelstrom gained famed thanks to authors like Edgar Allan Poe and Jules
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Verne.
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It’s the Old Sow Whirlpool – the biggest maelstrom in the Western Hemisphere.
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It’s located between Canada and the US, up near Dear Island, New Brunswick and Moose
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Island, Maine.
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The whirlpool is a lot bigger than any in Saltstraumen, but not nearly as fast.
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Still, a swirling vortex of water 250 feet in diameter is nothing to scoff at!
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But even with a mouth big enough to fit the wingspan of a 747 with room to spare, the
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vortex itself is rarely visible because it moves as such low speeds.
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Aw, disappointing…
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Most of the time it looks more like something is lurking underwater.
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Sometimes it even shoots weak fountains to the surface so it becomes bloated and unnaturally
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still.
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If you’re wondering why the whirlpool is called Old Sow, there’s a pretty funny story
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behind that.
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The constant roaring sound it makes reminded locals of a pig grumbling.
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For the same reason, small whirlpools that appear around the big “sow” are called
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her “piglets”!
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I’ve already mentioned Homer, Poe, and Verne, so you can see just how often maelstroms find
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their way into our culture.
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Well, can’t forget about the Far East!
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You ever admired beautiful works of Japanese ukiyo-e artists?
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Their marine landscapes are exceptionally captivating.
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One of such masters, Utagawa Hiroshige, once made a piece called “Naruto Whirlpool, Awa
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Province”.
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And guess what?
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This whirlpool really exists!
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As it often goes, this one is also located in a strait.
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The current running through the islands of Naruto and Awaji flows at 12 mph.
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When the spring tides begin, vortices here can be over 65 feet in diameter, which is
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about as long as a bowling lane.
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If you’re interested in having a peek, there is an observation point from a nearby bridge.
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That alone is an incredible construction!
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It’s over 5,300 feet long and looms over turbulent waters at a height of 135 feet!
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There’s one more place I’d like to tell you about, and it’s the Gulf of Corryvreckan.
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According to one Scottish myth, Cailleach Bheur, the goddess of winter, used the gulf
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as a washtub for her plaid.
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This is where Corryvreckan’s whirlpool allegedly originates from, if you’re into more mythical
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explanations, of course!
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It’s the second largest maelstrom in the world, and it calms down only for about an
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hour or so a day.
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But even without the whirlpool, the current running through this straight between the
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Scottish islands of Jura and Scarba can go extremely fast.
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So, imagine my surprise when I found out people actually try to swim across this thing!
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They’re called “wild swimmers” and the Gulf of Corryvreckan is a hotspot for them.
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Instead of simply hitting up the beach or community pool, these adrenaline chasers specifically
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hunt for places as dangerous as possible to swim across!
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Yeah, well, I bet many have won a Darwin Award for trying to swim over half a mile to make
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it across this fast-moving strait!
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As for those of us who live on the brighter side of life, I say we stick to admiring these
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whirlpools from afar!
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So, which maelstrom would you like to see or maybe you can recommend another natural
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phenomenon worth checking out?
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Let me know down in the comments!
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If you learned something new today, then give this video a like and share it with a friend.
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But – hey! – don’t go wading in whirlpools just yet – or at all!
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Instead, we have over 2,000 cool videos for you to check out.
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Just click on this left or right video, and enjoy!
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Stay on the Bright Side of life!