SCUBA and Snorkelling

Clear visibility and the abundance of underwater marine life in the Barrier Reef make Belize one of the top choices for SCUBA and snorkel enthusiasts

At Right: Clear visibility and the abundance of underwater marine life in the Barrier Reef make Belize one of the top choices for SCUBA and snorkel enthusiasts. Image courtesy Belize Tourist Board.

Southeast of Ambergris Caye are several groups of cayes that are popular dive (and fishing) destinations.

The Turneffe chain of small islands offer diverse scuba environments, including shallow coral head diving, wall diving and wrecks. Small lodges cater to serious divers and fishermen; including the Turneffe Island Lodge on Caye Bokel and the newly built Blackbird Caye Resort, an ecotourism resort that doubles as a research station for the Oceanic Society. Blackbird Caye Resort is also attractive to snorkelers because of its proximity to the Barrier Reef.

Lighthouse Reef is best known for its famous Blue Hole -a huge sunken cave 300 by 400 feet that was the subject of a documentary by underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau. The Blue Hole is probably Belize's best known scuba diving attraction, but Lighthouse Reef is also the site of Half Moon Caye National Monument, established as Belize's first nature reserve in 1982.

The reserve is managed by the Belize Audubon Society; its most well known inhabitants are its thousands of booby birds. Endangered hawksbill and loggerhead turtles nest on Long Caye's beaches, as to several species of iguanas, lizards and large land crabs. Camping is permitted by arrangement, as are swimming, diving and snorkeling. No food or services are available.

Several dive operations on Ambergris Caye offer one, two and three day SCUBA and snorkel trips to the coral reef and its tropical underwater paradise.

A nesting red-footed Booby Bird. These birds were so named because they are unafraid of humans, and were thus easily killed by hungry sailors landing at the caye

ABOVE: A nesting red-footed Booby Bird. These birds were so named because they are unafraid of humans, and were thus easily killed by hungry sailors landing at the caye. Now, they live in a protected nature reserve. Half Moon Caye is a favorite destination of marine ecologists and bird-watchers, as well as scuba divers and snorkelers, many of whom take day trips from Ambergris Caye.

Because most islands on the Barrier Reef are not yet developed, there is abundant bird life, including egrets, herons, roseate spoonbills, flamingos, pelicans, cormorants and frigate birds. About a mile north of San Pedro on Ambergris Caye, an 80 foot channel, the San Pedro River, separates the southern part of Ambergris from the rest of the island.

A ferry operates most days to take people back and forth across the river. There are several resorts north of town, but they are few and far between; your chances of catching a glimpse of wildlife increases as you proceed north. On rare occasion, margays and ocelots have been spotted in the northern part of Ambergris; and even an occasional jaguar.

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