Right at the perimeter of Hat Caye Drop-off there are massive basket sponges. The visibility on this site is about 50 feet, with minimal currents, making this a good site for beginners. Also check out the sandy slope behind the reef against the wall. Dive boats usually anchor above the sloping sand areas near the wall, which provides a great dive with dramatic wide-angle picture opportunities. One is very shallow close to the island and the other is a narrow line that is on top of a drop-off. ![]() There is a wide shallow reef, with a wide patch of sloping sand separating two reefs. It is found along the central wall in the western part of Lighthouse Reef and it has an alluring shallow reef and is the southernmost site divers regularly go to in the atoll. You will see garden eels, conch, rays, flounder, star-eye hermit crab, tilefish, manta rays, groupers, yellowtail snappers, razorfish, toadfish, spotted eagle rays, turtles and black groupers as well as various other marine creatures at the Half Moon Wall.Ĭlose to Long Caye is an island called Hat Caye, where there is a reef drop-off, which is where it got its name. ![]() There is both large and small marine life on the Half Moon Wall. When divers go 30 feet below, they see that the reef rim has a stunning development of spurs and grooves. It has depths of 30 plus feet, amazing 100 feet of visibility and low-level currents. The Half Moon Wall is an excellent dive spot for the intermediate level diver. There is also a sloping, desolate sand flat separating the reef rim from shallow reefs by the shore. The coral structures form a thin rim at the border of the wall. The site is located just south of Half Moon Caye. The reefs here are magnificent and diverse. Before or after your dive you can also see the boobie bird sanctuary on Half Moon Caye. Half Moon Wall is an amazing dive spot, which includes the Half Moon Caye National Monument. Snorkelers will also enjoy observing the many life forms that surround the Blue Hole. The most diverse and abundant marine life is found on the reefs that border the outside of the Blue Hole. You may also find sharing brush, mermaid's fan algae, elkhorm, club finger, shallow-water starlet corals, giant green anemones and arious urchins. Red algae, hydroids and gorgonians cover most of the corals. Occasionally you may see a shark or turtle casually swimming by. As you descend below the ceiling, the bottom of the cave has numerous detached stalactites. There is an overhang that shapes a cave-like ceiling that stalactites hang with a width of more than three feet and up to 20 feet in length. A good way to keep your sense of direction while you are descending in the Blue Hole is to not get to far from the wall. You can begin by snorkeling to the coral rim. Visitors may dive either the north or south side to depths of 100 to 150 feet where the closest caves may be seen. Besides two narrow passages on the eastern and northern rims, the Blue Hole is entirely surrounded by living coral. Its diameter is just over 1,000 feet, with a maximum depth just over 400 feet. The Blue Hole is a round, deep depression in the center of more than 75 square miles of blue-green water, making up the Lighthouse Reef Atoll. ![]() With 100 feet of visibility, there are no currents and there are depths of over 400 feet making the Blue Hole an amazing site for advanced level divers. Since this ice age, the top of the cavern has collapsed to form this sinkhole. As a result larger subterranean caverns were created when fresh water flowed through the limestone deposits. In the last ice age, seawater was frozen in glaciers lowering the sea level more than 350 feet, exposing the limestones of the Lighthouse Reef Atoll. It was made famous by Jacques Cousteau in his 1970 Calypso journey. The Blue Hole is one of the greatest dive sites in Belize, located just eight miles from Long Caye. Some of the best wall dives exist on Lighthouse Reef, including several shallow drop-offs next to Half Moon Caye, where there are many discoveries to be explored. The famous Blue Hole is a natural phenomenon, which is the middle of Lighthouse Reef. Beautiful reef structures and walls beginning at 35 feet that are loaded with colorful corals and sponges that are seen through the clear water. The Lighthouse Reef Atoll is the farthest atoll from the mainland and has some of the greatest underwater visibility in the Caribbean.
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