Cayes, Atolls & Reef Diving |
Belize posesses three of the four atolls found in the Western Hemisphere. The origin of these Atolls: Lighthouse Reef, Glover's Reef and the Turneffe Islands are all distinct anomalies in the Caribbean. Nothing else in the Western Hemisphere resembles a true coral atoll, except perhaps Chinchorro Reef, off Mexico's southern Yucatan Peninsula (just above the Belize atolls). According to geologists they are even more unusual in that the origin of their formation does not seem to mirror the atolls of the Pacific Ocean, where rings of coral are better known.
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The ancient processes contributing to Belize atoll development may have begun as many as 70 million years ago and the atolls did not develop around subsiding volcanoes. Instead, they originated atop giant fault blocks; limestone covered ridges that settled in steps, providing a series of offshore platforms for coral growth. After the last ice age, with the slow rise of sea level, coral growth continued upward, creating the precipitous outer walls and the shallow inside lagoon that typifies these distinct formations. Many drop-offs surrounding the Belize atolls are thousands of feet deep, while depths in the shallow lagoons average 10 to 30 feet. (Article by Rick Frehsee)
In 1836 the famous biologist-evolutionist Charles Darwin paid homage to these remarkable formations when he said the Belize atolls and the Belize Barrier Reef constitute 'the richest and most remarkable coral reefs in the entire western Caribbean.
In the mid 1970s Jacques Cousteau's Calypso made its famous investigation of the Great Blue Hole at Lighthouse Reef Atolls, which corresponds to the arrival of dive travel to the region.
You can visit the Belize atolls several ways. You can stay three, four and seven nights or more at one of the atoll resorts where the packages are scheduled for Saturday to Saturday, Wednesday to Wednesday, Saturday to Wednesday or Wednesday to Saturday.
There are three excellent dive resorts on Turneffe Atoll and two each on Lighthouse and Glover's Reef. Transfers by air are now available to Lighthouse Reef and Turneffe Atoll. All other resorts provide a fast, comfortable one and a half to three hour boat transfer. You can also stay on Ambergris Caye, along the barrier reef or parts of the Belize coastline (including Belize City) and make day trips from these locations to the atolls.
