The Echo Domes: A Trip into Urban Decay

I'm going to start this post with an introduction to who I am. My name is Nicola, I am an explorer. I couldn't just leave it at explorer because I should really refer to myself as an urban explorer.

Urban exploration is the is the exploration of man-made structures, usually abandoned ruins or not usually seen components of the man-made environment. My group of explorers take photographs as we explore because we like to document the places we visit.

The first place I’m going to show you is what we call the Echo Domes. The Echo Domes are an abandoned set of oil tankers surrounded by a fueling depot. It was abandoned and currently there is another depot in operation, just across the bay.

When we arrived, it was early in the morning, about 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The sky was clear and the sun was starting to rise. Not too soon after we had found our way in, the fog started to roll in. Here’s what it looked like:

You can see me and a couple others taking a treacherous walk up the rusty staircase to the top of the dome. After this, we headed inside through one of the holes on the side of the dome and what we walked into could only be described as awe inspiring, perhaps even hellish and disorienting. I’ll show you a video from some well known urban explorers (who are also some really awesome guys) that showcase the sound really well: (Skip to 2:20 to get to the part I’m talking about, also the videos never do the echoes justice, it’s way crazier in person)

We walked in, darkness shrouded the insides of the dome, echoes rang between the walls. (Hence the name, Echo Domes) Every whisper, scratch, and breath could be heard like there were a thousand other explorers imitating us. At first the dancing echoes disoriented all of us. Personally, I felt as if I had died and was waiting in purgatory. Darkness engulfed me and the sound deafened me. I felt genuinely afraid for a moment. I felt as though my sweat drops could be heard echoing through the domes. I took a step out to catch my breath, then went back in more collected. At that second entrance, I found myself able to appreciate the beauty of the sounds dancing around my head.

Upon leaving, we caught sight of a concrete dock, where the ships would load and unload. Here’s a picture of the dock:

I climbed the rusty steps to the top of the structure you can see, there were machine operating levers there, sadly the power had been off for years already. Although walking on the rusted metal steps to the top of every structure here was unsafe, the payoff was an awesome view of the whole area we visited.

After being at the Echo Domes for an hour and a half, a truck pulled in. It was a cop! Luckily, we got off safe and sound without any problems. We were able to explore an amazing site and get some awesome pictures, so please take a look at some others.

This is a phosphate silo, phosphate would be stored here while awaiting shipping off.

One of our group walking back towards the Echo Domes.

A look at the domes without the blanket of fog. A picture from another photographer. Credits go to royalimageryjax.