The Great Blue Hole Belize

Ok it's dive time now. I have come halfway around the world for this trip and I am finally going to dive the blue hole!

For those of you not familiar with this dive site, it is a collapsed limestone cave about two and a half hours from Ambergris Caye off the coast of Belize

The Great Blue Hole is a large underwater sinkhole off of the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is circular in shape, over 300 metres (984 ft) across and 120 metres (394 ft) deep. It was formed as a limestone cave system during the last ice age when sea levels were much lower. As the ocean began to rise again, the caves flooded, and the roof collapsed.Click here for the full wikipedia entry

I had dived the previous day with a dive shop in San Pedro - Amigos Del Mar and found them to be pretty reasonable with good kit. They also had the best boat on the island and with the trip being three hours each way I wanted a comfortable ride.

Pickup from a pier near my digs was an unreasonable 5:30 am however they were on time and we were soon at the boat ready for loading.

We had a good breakfast on board as the boat stayed wherever possible within the reef, heading first to Caye Caulker and the to Turneffe to avoid most of the open sea as there was a fair amount of lumps around.

I had taken the precaution of some dramamine pills before the trip and was very thankful as it was getting pretty bumpy on the trip across. In due course we arrived at the Blue Hole and I wondered what all the fuss was about!

The best views for the blue hole are, of course, from above. The perspective that you get from the water is initially one of just a flat darker area. It is only when the boat pulls back that you are able to see the rounded shape and the deep hue of the water compared to the shallows themselves.

I had buddied up with a less experienced diver from Ireland called Tom, he turned out to be pretty comfortable in the water, especially given that this was his first deep dive. I have to say that the practice of allowing pretty much anyone with a c card in the water to dive this deep dive is a little bizarre but I guess financial considerations outweigh all others for the local dive operations here.

No drama though, we entered the water and grouped down at around 20 metres, the guides got everyone together and ensured we all stayed around the maximum of about 43 metres. It was an eerie dive, as much a cave dive as anything else and to see huge stalactites at depth was awesome.

The clarity of the water improved the deeper we went until at around 30 metres it was exceptional, the bigger fish however were staying well away although I could see the shapes of sharks in the gloomier reaches. For such a distance and a deep dive it was all over in 25 minutes but it was well worth it.

During the first surface interval we motored further away towards Half Moon Caye for our second dive. This was a regular reef dive and afforded all the usual suspects; turtles, eagle rays, sharks and huge groupers one with its mouth full of fish! There were free swimming moray eels and lobster with plenty of other assorted marine life to keep us company.

Prior to the last dive we stopped off at Half Moon Caye for lunch and to explore the island which is a nature preserve and home to the red footed booby bird! Not being a twitcher all I can say it it craps a lot. The island was beautiful with pristine beaches and a nature trails weaving through the bushes to a lookout point.

After lunch we headed off for a wall dive, this was pretty good once again with a good assortment of marine life and a very long drop! Not a good time to drop a torch.

Back on board and showered up we were dreading the 3 hour boat ride back, this was somewhat alleviated by the production by the crew of coconut rum and pineapple juice. I took full advantage of these cocktails and later managed to doze most of the way home.

The Great Blue Hole may not be a show stopper but it is a very different dive and up there with the must do's for a lot of divers. If you are considering diving in Mexico or Belize it is worth the journey. I hope you have as much fun as I did thanks to Amigos Del Mar!

Peter J Smith January 2009