The little Central American country of Belize may have more adventure within her borders than any other place on earth. Located on the southern end of the Yucatan peninsula, it is bordered on the north by the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the west and south by Guatemala and to the east, Belize looks out over the Caribbean Sea. The country is only 180 miles long from north to south and an average of 70 miles wide, but despite its diminutive size, it is host to an overwhelming bio-diversity that goes unrivaled.
The dense rainforest of the interior is home to a stunning variety of wildlife, birds and reptiles, moss draped Mayan ruins hide in the jungle shadows and tropical rivers drop to the sea through the vegetable morass. Beautiful white sand beaches meet the Caribbean in the southern reaches of the country and offshore, lies the world’s second longest barrier reef. Along the reef are strewn over a thousand islands and islets called cayes and three of the western hemisphere’s four coral atolls can be found.
As a scuba divers paradise Belize is hard to beat and the diving opportunities are endless. The most difficult choice to make is where to dive given the multitude of world-class dive sites. For those seeking a calypso beat and a little hustle and bustle, Ambergris Caye may be an excellent choice. The town of San Pedro on the southern end of the caye is host to hotels and resorts, quaint beach bars, discos, dive shops, tour operators and a pleasing variety of crab shacks, seafood restaurants and establishments offering fine dining. Diving is convenient at Ambergris with the majority of dive sites being within minutes of the hotels. The most notable among many are Cyprus Gardens with its hoards of nurse sharks, giant grouper and schools of large snapper, the Hol Chan Marine reserve hosting shoals of tropical fish, huge silver tarpon and sting rays and M&M; caverns where divers can traverse tunnels through the reef.
Placencia
Placencia lies 80 miles from Belize City in the southern region of the country and it boasts some of the best beaches in Belize. Miles of white sand beaches are fringed with swaying palms making for an idyllic Caribbean ambiance. Placencia is a small and quite quaint village with a population of less than 1000 and offers budget hotels, bed and breakfasts, treetop bungalows and upper end accommodations. One of the biggest attractions for divers is the great concentrations of whale sharks that congregate from March to June to feed on the eggs of the spawning Culebra snappers. This is the best whale shark diving on the planet and should be on every diver’s ‘to do’ list. One of the drawbacks to diving Placencia are the long boat rides to the dive sites which can be from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, but divers are rewarded with beautiful walls, canyons and a plethora of marine life.
The Atolls
For the very best diving that Belize has to offer and possibly the best in the Caribbean, Belize’s three atolls have everything any diver could ask for. Turneffe, Glover’s and Lighthouse reef each host a few all inclusive resorts that are well isolated from the rest of the world.
Glover’s is the most remote being well offshore in the southern waters and was touted by Jacques Cousteau as one of the three best dive sites on the globe. Within this coral necklace are hundreds of patch reefs with the richest variety of marine life in the Caribbean and the outside wall drops from 35 feet to 3000 and is constantly patrolled by manta rays, sharks and other pelagics.
Turneffe reef is the largest of the Belize atolls with over 200 cayes within the lagoon. There’s excellent diving for divers of all experience levels and Turneffe is well known for its massive shoals of fish. Schools of thousands of jacks, snapper and permit can be observed and down the stair-step wall, blacktip, reef and hammerhead sharks cruise by.
Lighthouse reef is the farthest from shore and is perhaps most famous for the Great Blue Hole. The hole is 1000 feet across and its sheer walls drop to 480 feet. The top of the hole is rimmed with coral and at 130 feet the walls are undercut with caves adorned with 20 foot long stalactites. The hole is a shark haven and it is not unusual to see dozens of bull sharks, hammerheads and occasional tiger sharks. Visibility in the Great Blue Hole often exceeds 200 feet.
It would take a lifetime to dive all the sites that Belize has to offer and for world-class diving, Belize is a true paradise on earth. You better Belize it.
Sources:
http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/divelighthouse.html
http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/greatbluehole.html
http://www.divebelize.com/
http://www.guidetobelize.info/en/maps/belize-map-caye-atoll-guide.shtml
