Long Caye on Lighthouse Reef
We stayed a week at Itza Lodge, Long Caye on Lighthouse Reef,
about 70km off the mainland coast. It’s about a 20 minute boat ride
to the Blue Hole.
Unfortunately, the first few days were heavy rain so most of the time
was spent reading, however, we managed to walk on the island, to
do a snorkel and kayak. The weather improved but it remained very
windy. We snorkelled/dived the Blue Hole, the Aquarium and on two
occasions we went to Half Moon Caye to visit the island and go
snorkelling and diving.
The aquarium as you would guess is teeming with fish. For divers
there is a steep wall covered with clusters of brain coral, purple fans
and sea plumes.
Half Moon Caye is surrounded by a reef full of coral and fish and on
the island there is a reserve bird sanctuary to protect the habitat of
the Red-footed booby. It is also home to the nesting frigate birds and
sea turtles (Loggerhead, Hawksbill, and Green turtles).
In the beautiful, turquoise blue, clear waters we saw eagle rays,
groupers, rainbow-hued parrotfish, black-and-yellow striped
angelfish, creole wrasse, sergeant majors, and a host of other jewel-
bright fish as well as barracudas, moral eels, stingrays, green sea
turtles and Caribbean sharks. There is also an abundance of sponge
and fan corals (especially purple fans) in excellent condition.
The Great Blue Hole
Originally the Great Blue Hole was a limestone cave that started to form
about 150,000 years ago. Gradually the water level rose as the glacial
period ended and the caves were flooded and its roof collapsed, thus
forming this unique hole. Its deepest point is 124 metres. The hole has
an almost perfect circular shape, about 300 metres wide.
Snorkelling the rim is more beautiful than diving the hole. The abundant
sponge and purple fan coral is excellent and in good condition.
Snorkelers see the colourful coral then the sandy shelf of about
10metres before it drops into a dark hole.
The Great Blue Hole was discovered by Jacques Cousteau in 1972, who
sadly, used dynamite to blast a channel through the coral on the rim
circumference so that his team could lower their research vessel, the
Calypso, to investigate the depths of the sinkhole. The expedition found
some submerged stalactites in the walls, and was able to conclude that
the Blue Hole was formed before ocean levels rose.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau declared it “one of the top ten dive sites in the
world” so thousands of Scuba Divers flock here, but many are
disappointed as it is not colourful coral reef diving. It is dark and
overcast and the main point of interest is a cavern with stalactites (to see
it you need to dive below 18 metres), and you may also be lucky to see
some sharks circling the hole. (I saw the dull, uninteresting photos of
fellow divers and felt relieved that I had made the right decision to
snorkel the rim, rather than dive it).