Local Color: Blue

You’ll feel anything but blue at Iceland’s Blue Lagoon.

Local Color is a new blog series that takes a look at colorful places around the world.

The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa located inside a lava field near Reykjavik, Iceland. It’s been described as “a hot tub on the moon,” and the pale blue water maintains a constant temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit thanks to the geothermal plant nearby. The Lagoon is famous for its silica-rich mud that’s said to heal a variety of skin conditions, and you’ll see many visitors simply scooping it from the pool and putting it on their faces as a beauty mask. Those who are looking for a more traditional spa experience can sign up for beauty treatments or massages that are provided in a secluded part of the pool.

From above, the depths of the Great Blue Hole are such a dark blue that they seem almost black. The hole was formed off the coast of Belize more than 100,000 years ago as a vertical cave on dry land and was filled with water as the ocean level rose. The site was made famous by Jacques Cousteau, who brought his ship the Calypso to chart its depths. The Great Blue Hole is part of a larger constellation of caves and coral reefs that appear turquoise from above and today it’s a popular scuba diving and boating destination.

Picturing Montana may bring to mind dusty red plains, and there are plenty of those, but the state is also home to some of the world’s most beautiful sapphires. During the gold rush in the late 1800s, miners would complain about the clear blue pebbles that made it more difficult for them to sift the gold from the riverbed. Eventually a clever miner realized they were worth a fortune on their own. Montana sapphires are some of the clearest in the world and though the mining industry has died down in recent years, there are still numerous stores and galleries showcasing prize specimens. At the Gem Mountain Mine you can even search for your own raw stones. Judging from the pictures on Gem Mountain’s Facebook page, it looks like your chances are good to walk away with a souvenir blue gem of your own.

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