In search of other-worldly truths

While Ho and his fellow TUFOS members continue to scan the skies looking for explanations for the unexplained, the Underwater Archeological Institute (UAI, 中華水下考古學會) plans to go in the opposite direction and uncover more photographic and documentary evidence regarding four strange edifices deep under the ocean floor of Taiwan's territorial waters.

The UAI hit the headlines in July 2002, when it stumbled across a 100m-long wall-like structure 28m beneath the murky waters of the Penghu archipelago's Hsichi (西吉島) and Tungchi (東吉島) islets. Hoping to follow on from this success, UAI divers will be taking to Taiwan's waters again this year in search for more clues surrounding lost civilizations and the legendary continent, Mudalu (姆大陸).

"After four years searching we were very happy with the find in Penghu. It created a lot of interest, especially in Japan and has given us quite a lot of credibility," said expedition chief, Steve Shieh (謝新曦).

"There's definitely a lot more out there. As to how much I wouldn't like to say, but I think there is a much bigger find waiting to be discovered."

Allegedly stretching from the South China Sea to Hawaii and encompassing large numbers of Pacific Islands, the legendary continent was supposedly home to Asia's earliest peoples, the Ketagalan (凱達格蘭族), who lived in East Asia between 7,000 and 15,000 years ago.

Known as Taiwan's Four Underwater Fabulous Ancient Mysteries (台灣水下四大傳說古文明之謎), the group comprises the recent Penghu find, which has become known as the Dongxiji Islet underwater farm house (東西吉嶼村屋之謎); the Hujing underwater castle (虎井沉城之謎), which is also off the coast of Penghu and was first discovered in 1982 by a Japanese underwater research team; the Jialeshui underwater altar (佳樂水祭台之謎), which lays of coast of Pingtung; and the Taimali underwater cliff path (太麻里懸崖步道之謎) near Taitung.

"We plan to take to the water again some time in April, when the weather conditions are best, and continue to search the area around the Jialeshui area. It lies roughly 300m off the coast in waters measuring from 16m to 40m in depth, so it's a pretty simple dive," said the UAI's expedition leader. "Of course, it's not cheap. A three-day dive with 12 people costs around NT$400,000 and we're still looking into finalizing the funding."

If funding permits, then the UAI also plans to take to some of Taiwan's less-accessible waters this year. In its most ambitious project to date, the group hopes to take to the high seas at the periphery of Taiwan's territorial waters and search an area 240 nautical miles (386km) southwest of Kaohsiung near the Dingxia Islet (東沙島), or the Pratas Islands.

"It's a big project and we've only just contacted the Kaohsiung City Government in regards permission to explore the waters around the islet. I'm sure we'll be given permission" Shieh said. "The government hasn't been interested in our finds so far, but we hope to show them things this year that they simply won't be able to ignore."