 You have a "home away from home" that sweeps a broad and beautiful horizon as far as your eyes will reach. Your "home" is beneath the sea, but you are not a merman or mermaid nor marine life of any kind! You are a snorkeling or diving enthusiast who can not exist without a watery plunge. You are compelled to visit some of the most beautiful places on earth that exist only underwater.
Some of these places are coral reefs and atolls surrounding the Caribbean island of Belize. Relatively untouched by polluted death, Belize's reefs and atolls offer a richness of marine life that make "Looking for Nemo" a walk in the park. In the Half moon Caye on the Lighthouse Reef, sea turtles, varied fish, spotted eagle rays and garden eels entertain the eye. Nearby, the snorkeler or diver may be intrigued by a dark, sapphire blue hole standing out from shades of watery turquoise.
Known simply as "The Great Blue Hole," the sapphire blue 412 foot shaft was first dived by Jacques Cousteau in 1970. It became one of his favorite spots. The shaft is an almost perfectly round and vertical sinkhole situated near the middle of the Lighthouse Reef. Billed as "The Holy Grail of snorkeling" and "the diver's pilgrimage site", the sinkhole draws underwater seekers from all over the world. Its rim is home to purple sea fans, cleaning shrimp, Elk horn coral and fish such as the small grouper, butterfly and angel fishes. Ringed and knobby anemones are at home in the reef and on the Blue Hole's rim.
For those as adventurous as Jacques Cousteau was, the hole can be easily dived to view layer after layer of stalactites and other limestone formations appearing on the cavernous walls. The limestone formations become more intricate and intense the deeper one dives. The water temperature remains a fairly steady 76 degrees no matter how far down one continues to dive or what time of the year it is. Stalactites, (mineral appearing "icicles") hang vertically and are actually formed on land. In the shaft, they appear along with stalagmites, (mineral "icicles" moving vertically upward) and all other unusual shapes and sizes of limestone formations. The hammerhead shark can also be observed swimming far below in the shaft.
Belize's sinkhole was formed on land during the Last Ice Age. The action of water moving constantly between layers of limestone produced chemical reactions that slowly eroded the underlying bedrock into it's round shape. Over time, the erosion also removed topsoil until the ground above collapsed forming the huge hole. As the glaciers melted and the sea level rose, the sinkhole was submerged to where it is found today. Whatever a diver or snorkeler's preference, the Great Blue Hole guarantees someone might make this their "home away from home."
For more info, visit: Fodor's 3rd and 4th edition guides on "Belize" and www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/greatbluehole.html
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