The world's second-largest coral reef system — 185 miles of living reef running parallel to the Belize coast, with the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, Shark Ray Alley (nurse sharks and stingrays), and the Great Blue Hole (300 feet deep, 1,000 feet across) constituting a marine experience that is among the world's finest.
Why It’s Worth Your Time
The Belize Barrier Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the second-largest coral reef system on earth after Australia's Great Barrier Reef — 185 miles of living coral running along the entire Belize coast, creating a lagoon of calm, warm, clear water between the reef and the mainland cayes. The Hol Chan Marine Reserve near Ambergris Caye is the most accessible reef section for beginners: diverse coral gardens, enormous numbers of tropical fish, green sea turtles, and the regular presence of manatees in the seagrass beds adjacent. Shark Ray Alley, five minutes by boat from Hol Chan, is exactly what it sounds like — a shallow sandbar where nurse sharks and southern stingrays congregate in numbers that make snorkeling among them a reliably thrilling experience (nurse sharks are docile; stingrays merely need space). The Great Blue Hole — a 1,000-foot-wide, 300-foot-deep circular sinkhole in the Lighthouse Reef Atoll — is the world's most famous single dive site: advanced divers descend into its vertigo-inducing blue depths past prehistoric stalactites to see Caribbean reef sharks and occasional hammerheads. Non-divers experience it best from the air on a flyover tour.
What Stands Out
- World's second-largest coral reef system — UNESCO World Heritage Site, 185 miles of living coral
- Hol Chan Marine Reserve: the most diverse and accessible snorkeling on the Belize Barrier Reef
- Shark Ray Alley: nurse sharks and stingrays in numbers that make snorkeling notably thrilling
- Great Blue Hole: the world's most famous dive site — 1,000 feet across, 300 feet deep; flyover for non-divers
- Lobster season June 15–February 14: reef lobster in abundance along the entire barrier reef