The Experience of a Lifetime

Six miles north of Halfmoon Caye, in the lagoon of Lighthouse Atoll, is the Great Blue Hole. The name alone will make it different from some of the other “blue holes” to be found in the Caribbean. This one is the largest, deepest, and most famous. Thousands of divers have made it the reason they have come to dive in Belize.

This site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world. In 1971 he brought his ship, the Calypso to the hole to chart its depths.

This trip is a full day excursion that departs at 6:00am and returns at 5:30pm. This adventure includes three spectacular dives. Your first stop is the Great Blue Hole, an incredible cavern filled with stalactites and awe – inspiring natural formations. A limited variety of fish species can be found here, Lemon and Black-tip Sharks, Horse-eye Jacks and very rarely a lone Hammerhead Shark has been sighted.

On your second dive you will go to Half Moon Caye Wall and marvel at the abundance of its marine life. Numerous varieties of sponge and sea fans compete for space, amongst a profusion of coral species that include Mountain Star, Giant Brain, Staghorn and Lettuce coral. Turtles are common here and you can expect amazing encounters with many pelagics:- Lemon, Black-Tip and Bull Sharks (with Pilot fish always in attendance), alongside the beautiful Spotted Eagle Rays.

The surface interval between your second and third dives will be spent having a  leisurely beach picnic lunch on Half Moon Caye. This Caye is a sanctuary for Red-footed Booby and Frigate birds. There is an observation tower where it is possible to see all the nesting birds and observe the behavior of some of the 98 species of birds recorded here. Half Moon Caye has to be one of the most beautiful marine and terrestrial sites you will ever experience.

After relaxing on the palm-fringed beach, you are ready for your third dive at the Aquarium so called because of the tremendous variety of fish found at this site, and their abundant numbers. You will be surrounded by various Angelfish and Butterfly fish, always found in pairs, flitting from coral head to coral head. Millions of minnows swim in dense cloud like formations, occasionally being prayed upon by hungry Jacks, and single large Barracuda hover effortlessly in this fruitful hunting ground, an underwater video delight.

The Great Blue Hole was formed sometime during one of the ice ages that covered the North American continent several millions of years ago. At this time it was dry and because of its limestone makeup, stalagmites and stalactites were created drop by drop of limestone rich water. Some of these stalactites are nearly thirty feet long and nearly eight feet in diameter.

The top edge of the Great Blue Hole is nearly 1,000 feet across and is ringed by fringing coral that makes for an excellent snorkeling adventure. The base of this fringing reef gradually slopes at about 40 degrees until at a depth of 50 feet it suddenly drops into the Great Blue Hole. A sheer, pockmarked wall, covered in some places with an algae called Halimeda, is the only reference as descent is initiated. Most of the time there will be a slight thermocline felt at around 90 feet and at this point the visibility will improve substantially. The stalactites start at a depth of 120 feet and are plainly in view at the limits of sport diving, 130 feet.

This amazing geological formation is not home to a variety of marine life, especially at depth. On occasion, you will see groupers, sharks, horse-eye jack, squirrel fish back up in a nook, and even schools of Reef Sharks. This really does make for an eerie, almost surreal setting.

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