From the Great Blue Hole to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, scuba diving in Belize is amazing! Read about my diving trip in Belize and plan your trip!
This trip started off as a 3-day weekend for which I didn’t have any plans. I was simply browsing Travelocity to see if I could catch any deals.
To my surprise, I found a last-minute cheap round-trip DFW-BZE package including a hotel by the beach for 4 nights. It was Saturday when I saw the deal and I had to leave the next weekend.
In case you haven’t read my other blog posts, I’m not much of a beach person. Instead, I’m a scuba diver. Although I still consider myself very much a novice (<100 dives).
Here is how my last-minute drive trip panned out:
- Flights: After landing in Belize City, I took a short, inexpensive flight on a local plane to Ambergris Caye.
- Hotel: Banana Beach Resort. A++ location. I could walk to the dive shop from there (~5 min). Room was very average, but served its purpose well. Food was o.k. at the hotel
- Location: Ambergris Caye, Belize
- Dive days:
- Day 1: The Blue Hole, Lighthouse Reef Atoll
- Day 2: Ambergris Caye / San Pedro
- Day 3: Hol Chan Marine Reserve
Diving The Lighthouse Reef Atoll
atoll
: a coral island consisting of a reef surrounding a lagoon.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The Lighthouse Reef is one of three atolls in Belize Barrier Reef. It is located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Belize City.
Diving the Lighthouse Reef atoll was my first encounter with the reef shark. I have been hooked after this experience. It was such a rush to see these great animals swim centimeters away from me. The divemaster was feeding it lionfish and the sharks were swimming around us. It felt safe at all times. It was obvious the sharks were mostly interested on the lionfish.
Diving The Great Blue Hole
The Great Blue Hole is a gigantic sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It is located near the center of the Lighthouse Reef atoll. The Great Blue Hole is circular in shape and measures about 1000 feet across and is about 400 feet deep. It is simply a must when going scuba diving in Belize.
This was a full day dive trip on a boat (~2 hours one-way). There were only two dive shop operators in the island that would make this trip. We dove at the max depth, which means we could only stay there for a very short amount of time (<15 min).
I was able to record video of the dive. Check it out below! The video is dark since it is so deep. You can see the shapes of the stalacmites and stalactities, though.
Boat-level view of the entrance to the Great Blue Hole. Notice the two shades of blue.
Boat-level view of the Great Blue Hole
Diving The Ambergris Caye
The Ambergris Caye is Belize’s largest island. It is known for its diving and amazing beaches.
I dove four times on this day, since the boats departed about 200-400 yards from my hotel. I got to eat lunch at the hotel between morning and afternoon dives.
The marine life was excellent. A wide number of fish and species. There was no reef here, but instead there was an abundance of marine plants that rocked back and forth to the tune of the light current. The current also rocked me back and forth, and it made for an incredibly relaxing set of dives.
Another thing that really stood out from diving here was the abundance of nurse sharks. They gave me several opportunities to photograph them. It was amazing.
The staff at the dive shop were great. It felt like we were diving as friends by the afternoon. I was the only diver in those dives, so we were basically hanging out underwater. I highly recommend them: Belize Pro Dive Center (https://belizeprodivecenter.com/).
Hermit Crab (you can see the blue eyes!) 
Diving The Hol Chan Marine Reserve
The Hol Chan Marine Reserve is a reserve close to the Ambergris Caye island.
Ambergris Caye: Outside of the Water
Life is very relaxed outside of the water. From my hotel, I was able to walk to downtown San Pedro in about 15 minutes. Taxis are cheap as well (<$5 if I recall correctly). Street food was the best. I tasted Salvadorean pupusas, sea food, among other dishes.
Accommodations & Dive Shops
This is the outside view of my hotel. You can almost see the dives hop from here!
Below is the actual dive shop. Very cozy, and friendly: Belize Dive Shop.
I really hope you enjoyed reading about my scuba diving trip to Belize. If you have any questions or comments be sure to add them to the comment section! If you use Pinterest and you like my blog posts, do me a huge favor and pin my blog posts to your boards.
