Diving the Blue Hole with Portofino Beach Resort in Belize

The Blue Hole The Great Blue Hole is a large submarine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 70 kilometers from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is circular in shape, over 300 meters across and 125 meters deep. Besides modern-day marine life, this vertical cave contains remnants from its days above water. When much of Earthís water was sequestered in glaciers, global sea level was lower. During this time, stalactites or ’dripstones’ formed inside this cave, and those rocks are preserved underwater today. Jacques Cousteau revealed the secrets of the mysterious Blue Hole to millions of viewers in 1971 through the television series The Undersea World of Jaques-Yves Cousteau. Today, dive boats follow the way of the famous Calypso to explore one of the world’s best destinations for scuba diving. Blue Hole Natural Monument is one the seven wonders of Belize’s World Heritage Site. The Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which covers a total area of 963 square kilometers, illustrates a classic example of reefs through fringing, barrier, and atoll types. The Great Blue Hole is a popular spot amongst recreational scuba divers, who are lured by the opportunity to dive in crystal-clear water and meet several species of fish, including giant groupers, nurse sharks and several types of reef sharks such as the Caribbean reef shark and the Black-tip shark. Other species of sharks, like the bull shark and hammerheads, have been reported there, but are not regular sightings. Usually, dive trips to the Great Blue Hole are full-day trips, which include one dive in the Blue Hole and two further dives in nearby reefs.