Scuba Diving Is The Best Attraction in Belize

Undersea Vistas

Scuba diving is one of the great pleasures afforded by a tropical vacation. Nothing quite compares to floating amidst crystal-clear water, bobbing in the gentle current as exotic sea life of every description flits by. First-time divers are very common on the tourist routes that snake through South and Central America; it's a great part of the world to learn how to dive in, and doing so opens the door to unprecedented encounters with unusual fish, marine animals, and splendid undersea vistas. You're only a short certification and training course away from being a fully-capable diver; a few days' work and a modest fee are the only costs of admission. At nearly any place which has underwater attractions, a local dive shop will likely be on hand that can set you on the right, safe path to adventures underneath the sea.

Belize's Great Blue Hole

Those who begin their diving adventures in Central America are doubly in luck, as the region is one of the most renowned in the world for providing crystal-clear waters and an abundance of coral reefs, wildlife, and shipwrecks to explore. One of the most famous diving attractions is located in the middle of Lighthouse Reef off the coast of Belize; it's known worldwide as the Great Blue Hole. Visible from the air as a giant blue dot in the otherwise clear and shallow water, the Great Blue Hole is exactly what it's name implies :a huge sinkhole 300 meters in diameter and almost 125 meters from ocean floor to subterranean surface. It is one of the most impressive examples of cenote, a vertical entrance formed when a thin surface strata of karst limestone lying over an underground cave gives way. These natural formations are popular with divers as they are usually teeming with wildlife, as well as being simply a very unusual object that can be easily explored, but the Great Blue Hole is the mother of them all, a veritable express elevator to the ocean depths whose equal can hardly be found anywhere else on earth. The Hole's blue color is an artifact of it's depth, lying as it does in otherwise quite shallow seas around a coral reef, and the pure white sand at its bottom, which reflects light passing through the translucent water above. The gaping abyss's turquoise gate beckons to any curious enough to explore its depths, and glimpse the multitude of sea creatures which call the inside home (or just wander by for a quick bite).

Millennia in the Making

The Hole was formed, according to scientists, during ice ages, when worldwide glaciation lowered sea levels dramatically. Exposed to the erosive elements of wind and rain, the caves formed over a period of tens of millennia, and when the ice melted and the seas returned, the roof eventually caved, exposing the underwater pit and inviting in any creature capable of penetrating its depths. A bevy of amazing wildlife can be glimpsed on a trip to the Hole, including giant groupers, reef sharks, and even hammerheads. If you're headed to the vicinity of Central America, don't omit a stop in Belize to check out the Great Blue Hole. Even if you've never dived before, you'll need only a few days to get certified and in the water. Most dive trips to the Hole are full-day affairs with at least three dives in various locations. What better way to inaugurate yourself into the community of divers than by tackling one of the planet's most spectacular underwater sights?