That sinking feeling

[Manfred M]

About 8 years ago, the water levels in Lake Atitlan (an extinct volcanic crater, with no visible outlets) had been dropping, so people built houses and businesses along the lakeshore. Then for no apparent reason, things started to reverse themselves and the lake level has been rising; about 10 ft / 3m over the past 6 years/

A number of former "lakefront" properties and some old trees suddenly find themselves underwater...

[Jeffbridge]

Fantastic shot!!! Really nice!

[Shadowman]

Very interesting.

[John 2]

Interesting. Nice shot. That must be so disheartening for the owners.

[Downrigger]

Interesting and well done. Talk about "story".
Shorelines in general are a wonderful opportunity to see folks' optimism and short-sightedness at work - ice damage, hurricanes, flooding etc. always reminding us who is boss. I've often thought "shoreline visions gone sour" would make an interesting photo essay - this here would be good for the cover.

[bnnrcn]

I like the image very much,I find the story interesting and strange..Does anyone make some research in the area in order to find out the reason?

[Mike Buckley]

Fascinating story!

I understand the limitations of traveling but it sure would have been nice if you could have gotten a composition that doesn't include the foreground tree.

[Manfred M]

Fascinating story!

I understand the limitations of traveling but it sure would have been nice if you could have gotten a composition that doesn't include the foreground tree.

I quite agree Mike and I might look at rebuilding the image without the stump in front. Unfortunately, the only way to shoot this scene from the water perspective is to either use a boat (which I don't have access to) or shoot it from the water taxi pier, which is what I ended up doing. No way around the stump from it, unfortuantely...

[Manfred M]

I like the image very much,I find the story interesting and strange..Does anyone make some research in the area in order to find out the reason?

I heard two different local reasons; and can't confirm either.

One is that it has rained more and the lakes drainage through fissures (it is surrounded by mountains) can't keep up influx of water.

The other theory is that the lake itself sits on top of a magma bed and periodic volcanic activitiy pushes the lake bed up and raises the water. Other than the lake itself, there that three other volcanos here; it appears to be dormant, the second one has not errupted in about 80,000 years and the third one is considered to be active, with the last eruption in the 1850s.

[NorthernFocus]

That's an interesting story to be sure. Thanks for sharing.

[Wavelength]

Wonderful image of a not so happy situation there

[bnnrcn]

I guessed something similar to the second reason when I read your sentence about the lake being a volcanic crater at the beginning of the thread...I feel sorry for the damage.

I heard two different local reasons; and can't confirm either.

One is that it has rained more and the lakes drainage through fissures (it is surrounded by mountains) can't keep up influx of water.

The other theory is that the lake itself sits on top of a magma bed and periodic volcanic activitiy pushes the lake bed up and raises the water. Other than the lake itself, there that three other volcanos here; it appears to be dormant, the second one has not errupted in about 80,000 years and the third one is considered to be active, with the last eruption in the 1850s.