Blue
Hole Day Trip or Camp Out
The
Trips: A. Day Trip
- B.
Over Night Camp Out
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Above:
Two boats, one leaving the site.
Approximately 3000 feet across
x 480' Deep.
Below:
Aerial View.
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A.
DAY TRIP* - 3 Dives
Leave
at 6a - Return 530p - Continental Breakfast, Dive BLUE
HOLE by 830am (people dive as deep as 130'), 2nd Dive at
HALF MOON CAYE WALL (Atoll), Lunch on Half Moon Caye
(Rice, Beans, Salad, Chicken - Nice Meal). Head back. The
third dive is another wall dive called "The Aquarium"
at Long Caye.
B.
OVERNIGHT CAMP OUT*
Overnight
camp out - Offshore Express II (or another boat)
Day
1 - Depart San Pedro 6:30am from dock (Or arrange
for Caye Caulker pick up)
Day 2 - Return San Pedro 5:00pm to dock
5
Wall Dives including:
- The
Great Blue Hole and Lighthouse Reef
- Tanks,
Weights, Belt
- Meals
(Two breakfasts, Two lunches, a Beach Barbeque Dinner
& Soft Drinks)
Sleep
on the Boat or the Beach at Half Moon Caye National Park
The
'Live Aboard' dive boat, the 'Offshore Express II''
does the overnight dive trips to the outer atolls of
Turneffe island, Half Moon Caye, Lighthouse Reef and
the famous Blue Hole.
*Park
fees will be collected in Belize.
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About
The Blue Hole :
A
feature attraction of Diving in Belize, especially for divers/snorkelers
with an appreciation of geographical phenomena, is the opportunity
to explore the famed Blue Hole. Part of the Lighthouse
Reef System, it lies approximately 60 miles off the mainland.
It is one of the most astounding dive sites to be found anywhere
on Earth, right in the center of Lighthouse Reef is a large,
almost perfectly circular hole approximately 3000 feet across.
Inside this hole the water is 480 feet deep and it is the
depth of water which gives the deep blue color that causes such
structures throughout the world to be known as "blue holes."
Like
a giant pupil in a sea of turquoise, The Blue Hole is a perfectly
circular limestone sinkhole more than 3000 feet across
and 480 feet deep. (In the picture above, a boat is leaving the
site and pictured is the wake.) The array of bizarre stalactites
and limestone formations which mould its walls seem to become
more intricate and intense the deeper one dives. Near The Blue
Hole, one of Belize's largest protected areas, Half Moon Caye
Natural Monument, encompasses 10,000 acres of the atoll and
15 square miles of surrounding waters.
The
reef provides an ideal habitat for coral to attach and flourish.
It actually breaks the surface in many sections at low tide. Except
for two narrow channels, the reef surrounds the hole. The hole
itself is the opening to a system of caves and passageways
that penetrate this undersea mountain. In various places,
massive limestone stalactites hang down from what was once the
ceiling of air-filled caves before the end of the last Ice Age.
When the ice melted the sea level rose, flooding the caves.
As
of December 2005, the park fee for the Great Blue Hole is 40 USD.
Park fees for other sites are between $5 - 10. Fees are subject
to change anytime without notice.
ST36497
