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Climate scientists have been warning us that many of today’s most famous cities will soon be submerged, yet they wouldn’t be the first to be claimed by Poseidon.

Vincze Miklos of io9 has a beautifully haunting collection of photographs of ancient cities now lying underwater around the world, from Alexandria, Egypt to Port Royal, Jamaica, so grab your flippers and get ready to dive in.

Port Royal, Jamaica (above)

It was a popular spot for the English and Dutch sponsored privateers to spend their treasure in the 16th century, but later it turned to the main base of pirates. The earthquake of 1692 liquefied the sand, and lots of buildings slid into the water or simply sank straight down.

The city of Baiae (also known as Campania) and the Portus Julius, home port of the western Imperial Fleet, Bay of Naples, Italy, a popular resort for the ultra wealthy in the last decades of the Roman Republic. It had a casino and a giant swimming pool, too.

Baiae was sacked by Muslim raiders in the 8th century, and was entirely deserted because of an epidemic of malaria around 1500. The most of the buildings are now under water, due to local volcanic activity.

Lion City (Shi Cheng) of Qingdao Lake, China

The city was flooded in 1959 to create an artificial lake for the Xin’an River Dam Project. 290,000 people were relocated.

Full story at io9.

Underwater archaeology.