Ambergris Caye diving

The Ambergris Caye is approximately 36 miles long and was once a part of the Yucatan Peninsula. In past centuries, the fishing industry was the island's number one income, however, in the last years many tourist have come for the diving experience and snorkeling in Belize that the barer reef offers, therefore nowadays the main economic income is tourism.

The Belize barrier reef, the largest in the western hemisphere, stretches north to south along all 190 miles of the coastline, sheltering the interior cayes and providing divers with countless opportunities to explore.

Another important scubadiving Belize place close to Ambergris Caye is The Great Blue Hole. This submarine sinkhole is 1,000 feet across, almost perfectly round, and 450 feet deep. It's centrally located and within reach of fast boats from any of the cayes. This site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world.

Many hotels and shops specialize in taking divers through the deep coral canyons built by staghorn, elkhorn and brain corals. Marine life includes all the usual Caribbean reef fish suspects, from tiny tropicals to reef sharks and turtles. The barrier reef is also home to the whitespotted toadfish, a species found only in Belize.