Geocache Description:
Please note there is no actual cache at this location and you are not allowed to climb up to the Tanah Lot temple as it is a sacred Hindu site. You are However, allowed to walk around the base of the little island it sits on at low tide. Please be careful when venturing out here as the rocks can be slippery. Do not attemt to climb/walk out here when the tide has started coming in as you could end up being cut off from the mainland. The ocean here can be quite rough so please keep away from any rock edges.
Tanah Lot is a rock formation off the coast of the Indonesian island of Bali. It is home to the ancient Hindu pilgrimage Temple Pura Tanah Lot , a popular tourist and cultural icon and place that many photographers love to visit.
Tanah Lot means "Land [in the] Sea" in the Balinese Language. It is located in Tabanan, about 20 kilometres North West of Denpasar. The temple sits offshore on a large rock which has been shaped continuously over the years by the ocean tide.
Tanah Lot believed to be the work of the 16th-century Dang Hyang Nirartha. During his travels he saw the rock island and decided to rest there. Some fishermen saw him, and bought him gifts. Nirartha then spent the night on the little island. Later he spoke to the fishermen and told them to build a shrine on the rock, for he felt it to be a holy place to worship the Balinese sea gods. The main deity of the temple is Dewa Baruna or Bhatara Segara, who is the sea god or sea power and these days, Nirartha is also worshipped here.
In 1980, the temple's rock face was starting to crumble and the area around and inside the temple started to become dangerous. The Japenese government then provided a loan to the Indonesian government of Rp 800 billion (approximately US$480 million) to conserve the historic temple and other significant locations around Bali. As a result, over one third of Tanah Lot's "rock" is actually cleverly disguised artificial rock created during the Japanese-funded and supervised renovation and stabilization program..
Entrance tickets to Tanah Lot cost 20,000 Rupiah for Indonesian nationals (Rp 15,000 for children), but foreigners have to pay three times the price, or Rp 60,000 (Rp 30,000 for children). To reach the temple, visitors must walk through a set of Balinese market-format souvenir shops which cover each side of the path down to the sea. On the mainland clifftops, restaurants have also been provided for tourists.
The Tanah Lot temple is built on top of Quarternary volcanic clastic deposits. Over time erosion has separated it from the main island. Bali is part of the Sunda volcanic arc which curves from the West to the South of Indonesia. Bali and most other islands in this arc were formed by volcanic activity on the ocean floor. Bali still has two active volcanoes on the island. They are located at the centre of the island, Mt. Batur and Mt. Agung.
When visiting Tanah Lot you will see the cliffs and rock beds show layered sandstone beds with breccia lenses.
Breccia is a rock that is composed of large broken fragments of minerals or rocks that have been cemented/fused together by a fine grained sedimentary layer.
(Please note: this image of Breccia is taken from a differentt region as I do not want you to be able to guess the answers from the photos).
At Tanah Lot you will see sandstone beds and Breccia Lenses that have significant lateral grain size and thickness. Here the lateral variation in grainsize ranges between coarse gravel and sand. The sand beds in Tanah Lot are composed of medium to coarse volcanic sand grains and moderately sorted. Some of the horizontal sand beds here were cut by gravel beds, which indicates erosional processes have taken place. Based on field observations that have been conducted here, the grains, both minerals and lithoclasts, in these beds are believed to be predominantly of volcanic origin.
The information listed Shared is taken from Wikepedia and an article by Herman Darman called Sedimentology of Bali Touristic Locations - Tanah Lot and Uluwatu
To claim this earth cache you will need to access Tanah Lot at low tide and answer the following questions.
1. Walking around the area look for an area of the rock floor that appears to have breccia lenses. Describe the estimated grain size, colour and texture of the different rocks within the Breccia Lense.
2. Directly across from Tanah Lot there is a small cave in which you can touch a snake which is believed to bring you good luck. Looking at this cave, do you believe this cave will get larger over time? Why/Why not?
3. Feel the rock that is surrounding the base of Tanah Lot and describe how it feels. For example is it smooth to touch or rough like sandpaper. Why do you think this is?
4. Please take a photo of yourself or a photo that displays your caching name on a piece of paper to prove you visited the site.
Feel free to log the find straight away however only put the photo in the log not the answers to the questions. You can then message me the answers privately. If I do not receive your answers within the following week your log may be removed. Also don't overthink the answers. It is meant to be fun experience for you. They don't need to be 100% accurate however the photo with you or your caching name in it is a must.