The Blue Hole or Don't Touch That Shark!

The Blue Hole or Great Blue Hole, made famous by Jacques Cousteau, is a 400ft deep sink hole in middle of Light House Reef, off the coast of Belize. protected by the reef surrounding it, the blue hole has calm clear water and is a safe haven for marine life.

I was not actually sure if I would dive the Blue Hole while in Belize, it is expensive ($200) and the dive is taken to a depth of 130ft (a bit beyond my comfort zone). However, after discussing it with fellow divers/travelers I decided I should go for it. This trip is an adventure and if I don't push my comfort zone and do the truly spectacular things am I really experiencing the essence of this trip to its fullest extent?

Finding a diving company headed to the Blue Hole was difficult many groups would not go without a certain number of divers, but finally, I found one boat headed there the day I was planning to leave Belize. I figured out how to prolong my time on the island and signed-up to go. The Blue Hole was the first of 3 dives that day, it was beautiful; the water is as clear as they claim and the marine life was vibrant. When we reached the 130ft mark there was a large overhang on the reef wall, where many reef sharks were lurking about. After a very brief period of time at the max depth we ascend. What was peculiar is that the reef sharks did too. They were swimming around us and investigating us while we were doing our safety stop. It was a strange occurrence that has never happened when i have been in the water with reef sharks. I later found out it was because many of the dive boats feed the sharks and our group did not; the sharks were looking for their snacks! I could easily write a whole blog about my thoughts on the ethics behind feeding wild animals, but let's just say I was annoyed.

The second dive was at Turneffe Reef Atoll. I think this dive site is better than the Blue hole and offers a greater variety of wildlife. Including many brightly colored brittle stars. The 3rd dive was my favorite, we went to a location near Shark/Ray Alley (a popular Belize snorkeling destination). The dive was shallow about 40ft and had an abundance of large marine life, including a crab, 2 massive sting rays, a bat ray, 4 sea turtles and too many nurse sharks to count. In fact, there were so many nurse sharks that they were swimming up to the boat as we arrived. Once we were in the water, one of the dive masters grabbed a nurse shark, flipped it over and was cradling it like a baby, many of the divers rushed over to pet its belly. I did not. Again my opinions on appropriate interaction with wild animals, the shark did not ask to be held, the shark did not say it was OK to touch it, so why would people think it is OK to terrorize an animal like that?

The shark petting aside, my day diving in Belize was wonderful. After dive three, the boat had some time before it was scheduled to leave, so I went for a swim around the reef. One of our dive guides, a young boy Javier, was with me and he suggested free diving a cave that was about 18ft deep. It took 3 attempts but I did it, I went down and through the cave. It was really fun to do it with out any gear or the luxury of an air tank, I felt accomplished, especially when Javier admit that he could not do it and most of the people he challenged failed. Yes! Go me!