Diving off the barrier reef of Belize for close to four years is enough to spoil most anyone and Belize is one beautiful place to spend your days diving. The reefs are still pristine and in places like my personal favorite, Seal Caye, at the bottom of the Sapodilla Cayes, almost unbelievable. If you anchor carefully, you can set your anchor in 8 feet of sand at the front of your boat and 80 feet at the stern, then slide off along one of the most beautiful walls you can imagine. And easy to dive. You can do a number of different profile dives here and end the dive in ten to fifteen feet of crystal clear water before surfacing.
The diving here is truly world class. You can head down to 80 plus feet if you want but from my experience diving this many times, I found the best marine life and coral above 65 feet, frequented by Eagle Rays who flew past just off to your left if you are travleing clockwise around the reef.
There are tube sponges as tall as a full grown man along the walls here. So, if you are in southern Belize, check this spot out.
Off Ranguana Caye, top center photo and top photo on the right, towards the south, there is a difficult to find site called The White Hole. If you leave the island from the southern side and head towards the reef about five miles away, you will find three breaks in the reef and three sandy ravines which lead to the wall.
It’s very hard to find and I suggest you find Arthur Westby in the village and have him show you where it is. Arthur was my divemaster and friend for the years I dove in Belize and he’ll show you the spot.
It features a large canyon of gleaming white sand at 45 feet which runs down to a large opening and a lip which surrounds the sand as it settles at the top of the wall. As you swim to this lip at 55 feet and peer over, there is virtually no bottom. I brought many advanced divers that I was certifying there so they could experience the wonder of a true barrier reef wall dive.
Moving along the wall at 55 feet is a magical drift dive as you travel beside the wall on your left and the coral on your right.
To the north of Ranguana lays a garden of spur and groove formations just west of the wall that you can easily spend dozens of dives exploring. In between the grooves are home to resting Nurse Sharks and a wide variety of marine life too varied to list. Worth several dives.
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