Page 228 - Central America

The marine environment is healthy and supports a wide range of spe-
cies, including turtles, dolphins, manatees, rays, lobsters, sharks, eels
and more. Perhaps the most remarkable is the behemoth whale shark,
which at forty five plus feet, is the largest fish in the sea. These docile
creatures congregate off the Placencia coast in large numbers March
through June, within three days either side of the full moon. You can
book a snorkel or dive trip to the area and have a very good chance of
seeing them. The shops offer a wide range of PADI and NAUI cours-
es. Non divers may want to consider Discover Diving, which consists
of a few hours of basic theory followed by a dive. The open water
certification course takes three and a half days and will require a good
deal of studying and memorization. You could however, begin your
pool and classroom work at home and complete the dive portion in
Belize. That is called an open water referral.
Belize has three of the four true atolls in this hemisphere (the other
being the Chinchorro Bank off southern Mexico). LIGHTHOUSE
REEF, GLOVER’S REEF and the TURNEFFE ISLANDS are all dis-
tinct anomalies in the Caribbean. An atoll, a ring of coral, is differ-
ent from an island which develops around subsiding volcanoes. The
ancient processes contributing to Belize’s atoll development may have
begun as many as 70 million years ago. They originated atop giant
fault blocks; limestone covered ridges that settled in steps, providing
a series of offshore platforms for coral growth. After the last ice age,
with the slow rise of sea level, coral growth continued upward, creat-
ing the outer walls and the shallow inside lagoon that typifies these
distinct formations. Many drop-offs surrounding the Belize atolls are
thousands of feet deep, while depths in the shallow lagoons average
10 to 30 feet.
LIGHTHOUSE REEF is the farthest from the mainland and gets
plenty of visitors. Depth near the reef is around 9 feet. The great
Blue Hole at the center of Lighthouse Reef is described as one of the