The Belize Barrier Reef makes up about one-third of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is the second largest Barrier Reef in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef. Having just had visited the Great Barrier Reef exactly a month prior, I was very excited to explore the largest reef in the Northern Hemisphere, next. This post covers how to explore the Belize Barrier Reef from San Pedro and Caye Caulker.
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Table of Contents
Introduction to the Belize Barrier Reef
The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300 KM long stretch of the 900 KM Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. It is Belize’s top tourist attraction and is home to over 500 species of fish. This reef is 960 square KMs in area and includes seven marine reserves and 450 cayes. A few of the famous ones you may have heard include:
- Hol Chan Marine Reserve
- Great Blue Hole
- Half Moon Caye Natural Monument
- Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, Caye Chapel, Silk Caye
Best Ways to Explore the Belize Barrier Reef
The best ways to explore the Belize Barrier Reef is to either snorkel or dive. You can also see the Great Blue Hole from the air via a flightseeing tour.
When to Visit the Belize Barrier Reef
Dry season which is from November to May is generally considered the best time to visit the Belize Barrier Reef. However, I heard a guide say that he actually likes when it rains. According to him the marine life thinks it’s night time when the skies get darker and are more active. I thought this was an interesting perspective!
How to Visit the Belize Barrier Reef
One of the easiest ways to visit the Belize barrier Reef is to get to either San Pedro, a town in Ambergris Caye or to get to Caye Caulker. You can get to either of these islands easily from Belize City either by ferry or via a 15 minute internal flight. Ferries run a few times a day but flights are even more frequent (every 30 minutes to an hour).
Once you get to Ambergris Caye or Caye Caulker, you can easily do a snorkeling or diving trip to Hol Chain Marine Reserve and Shark Alley. There are so many snorkeling and diving tours to choose from. You can hire a private boat or join a group tour. These tours run for half day or the whole day.
My Experience Snorkeling in the Belize Barrier Reef
I chose a full day tour from Caye Caulker and a half day tour from Ambergris Caye to explore the Belize Barrier Reef.
Full Day Tour from Caye Caulker
This was a well organized tour and I had a lot of fun on it in addition to the snorkeling and one I can recommend! We left Caye Caulker in the morning and went to see these big silver fish that would jump out of the water. They were cool! Next, we went to see a giant manatee who was resting! This area is known for manatees and we were lucky to see one!
After this we went to a coral garden and a ship wreck. I saw my first nurse shark, ray and turtle here! Next was a conch forest. This area is super shallow and we saw lost of smaller fish here. After this, we went to shark alley where we saw lots of nurse sharks and rays in the water. The highlight was Hol Chan Marine Reserve, where we saw lots of rays and other fish!
For lunch we had a delicious Belizian meal and they also had rum punch and other beverages on board!
Before dropping us back to the starting point, the captain also took us to Bliss Beach on the other side of Caye Caulker where we had cocktails at a beach bar.
It was a small boat and there were 10 of us. Overall, it was a fantastic day exploring the Belize Barrier Reef with amazing company from around the world!
Half Day Tour
This half day tour from Ambergris Caye (San Pedro) took us to shark alley and Hol Chan Marine Reserve. I never regret snorkeling in the same place more than once as you never really see the same thing twice! This day, I saw lots of turtles (green turtles and a logger head), different types of rays and all kinds of other fish. The best part of this tour though was the boat itself. It was in a beautiful sail boat and I really enjoyed sailing on the open waters!
Comparison of the Belize Barrier Reef to the Great Barrier Reef
Granted I only saw a tiny section of each reef but I think it is definitely hard to compare the two. I saw a lot of vibrant and live coral and thousands of small and colorful fish in the Great Barrier Reef. Whereas, in Belize, I saw a lot of more bigger marine life like manatees and different kinds of turtles and tons of nurse sharks.
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