Discover the Wonderful Underwater World of Belize Scuba and Snorkeling

According to Skin Diver magazine, "Belize is one of the western Caribbean's premiere dive destinations", and visitors to Belize's coasts can testify on it, usually amended as the premiere diving destination in the world because Belize's Barrier Reef has been named one of the Seven Underwater Wonders of the World, with water visibility that commonly reaches over 100 feet, and water temperature hovers around 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

With calm water most of the year and spanning Belize's coastline for 185 miles is the Barrier Reef, including dive sites inside and outside of the reef. Divers may enjoy a different experience trying snorkeling or diving near a mangrove colored island so-called "the nursery of the sea" where is easy to find tiny barracuda, snapper and other fish whose parents only might be seen in deeper waters.

Inside the reef, patch reefs are covered with hundreds of brightly colored fish and coral species, and outside visitors may see Spur and Grove formatting narrow canyons of corals that are great for spotting grouper and the occasionally eel.

You can approach the Barrier Reef from Northern Belize through Stingray Flats, Mata Rocks, The Wall, Shark Ray Alley or Hol Chan, Belize's first marine reserve where the fish are huge and quite adapted to human presence. In Central Belize, through Goff's Caye and Rendezvous Caye or from Southern Belize the Barrier Reef include the coasts of Gladden Spit, Sapodilla Cayes, Tobacco Caye, with its great spur and grove formations just east of the island, South Water Caye Marine Reserve, the largest marine reserve in Belize, Laughingbird Caye (the smallest) or Silk Cayes, home to the world's largest population of whale sharks during the months of February to May.

Scuba divers may choose among 3 major options to decide how to experience the turquoise underwater world of Belize, either making a reservation with one of the offshore resorts or in advance through your travel agent, hiring a charter boat from one of the many dive resorts along Belize's coasts, or signing on with one of the many live aboard boats available.

Belize boasts three offshore atolls: Turneffe, Glover's Reef and Lighthouse Reef. All of them together provide over a hundred dive and snorkeling sites for the adventurous visitors who enjoy water sports. The Turneffe Atoll is the largest of the atolls found in Belize, with 30 miles long where the water dept measures between 55 and 65 feet.

Some dive sites in this atoll are Cabbage Patch, Hollywood, the Elbow, Jill's Thrill, The Coral, the Secret Spot, Birthday Reef Gorgonian Bluff, Rendezvous Wall and the snorkeling areas of Billy Bob's Shallows and Bat Brook Shallows.

The Glover's Reef is the most southern of the three and often overlooked, with a diameter of some 40 miles with over 700 shallow patch reefs in its interior, and numerous patch reefs this is a great place for snorkeling as well. Diving sites include Turtle Tavern, Hole in the Wall, Octopus Alley, Dolphin Dance, Parrotfish Falls, Manta Reef, Shark Point, Long Caye Cut, and Gorgonia Gallery,

The Lighthouse Reef is the farthest from the mainland, with a depth near the reef of around 9 feet, but an overall dept of 480 feet with stalactites at 130 feet. The great Blue Hole at the center of Lighthouse Reef is usually described as one of the best dive sites in the World and a must for all advanced divers, but visitors may enjoy diving also at Manta Wall, the Zoo, Cathedral and Half Moon Wall or the waters off Hat Caye which are great for snorkeling.