Lighthouse Reef: Blue Hole

Thursday, February 6, 2003

017-32.280 N
087-12.600 W

Ahoy from beautiful Half Moon Cay which is part of Lighthouse Reef off of Belize!

When you last heard from BlueJacket we had just finished repairing the Fischer Panda generator at Moho Cay and were preparing to head back out to the atolls. Like our first trip back out through the channel to Moho Cay we got stuck again and had to be pulled through it by the shuttle for the marina. I can only guess that it's because the water and holding tanks are full on the way out and they're empty on the way in. We made it, but later inspection shows that the bottom of the rudder has been ground down to the raw fiberglass. This will probably require pulling the boat in Mexico.

We had NO wind on the way to Turneffe and were close hauled with 15-20 kts on the way to Lighthouse. Most of the fleet that had been at Lighthouse passed us as they were headed back to the mainland to renew their papers, provision and pick up guests. It certainly seems as though we picked the right week to repair the generator as for most of that week it was blowing and rainy out here. We seem to have brought the good weather with us as it's been stunningly beautiful since our arrival.

When we were back at Moho we asked if anyone needed anything brought out to the reef. The #1 request was for vegies and we brought back lots and lots. Everyone was very happy to get them as there's nothing other than reef out here and vegies don't last long, especially when you can't refrigerate most of them due to limited space.

Just outside of lighthouse reef there are a series of mooring balls which have been privately installed by the dive companies. On our way in we pulled up to one and did a dive. I took my spear gun and got 2 Hog fish, a Grouper and a Spanish Lobster. I cleaned the first Hog fish and noted that the 2nd one was still breathing slightly. Not particularly enjoying the prospect of cleaning a fish that was still alive I put him back into the catch bag, but didn't secure the latch, and went down below to get some awful rum to pour into the gills to kill it. When I got back I was amazed to find that he was gone! I guess that he knew that him time was coming and made a last ditch effort to get away. Well, he did, but I'm sure that he was someone's supper that night. I was also amazed to see how well armored the Spanish lobsters are. Man they are difficult to break apart!

We spent another beautiful day diving off the west end of Long Cay and the next day Per from Change of Pace asked if we wanted to go to the Blue Hole and then go over to Half Moon Cay. We decided to go and at about 10:00 we headed off. To get to the Blue Hole you have to go outside the reef to the north end of Long Cay, cross back through the reef and proceed to the eastern side of the atoll (several miles) and then run 7 miles north along the inside of reef to the Blue Hole. I thought that Chance of Pace had done this trip before so we followed him. Well, let me tell you that the route that we took inside the reef looked like the path of a drunken sailor! We were constantly dodging patch reefs right and left. I left like a mouse in a maze! Just before we got there Per climbed his rigging and could clearly see the channel that we didn't go down. Arghhh! Needless to say the trip back was a much straighter line.

The Blue Hole is a perfectly round hole in the ocean's floor surrounded by a coral ring. It's 500' in diameter and according to my depth instruments, 375' deep. During the ice ages it was a huge cavern with fresh running water. Incredibly there are stalactites hanging from ledges in the hole! Once the ice ages ended the sea rose 400' and flooded the area causing the roof of the cavern to collapse and become what it is today.

We had been told that the this was a cold, dark dive with nothing to see. Well, we'd agree that it was cold (about 70 degrees), but we had very good visibility when we got to 60' and it was very interesting. The hole goes straight down and the sides are covered with green small and large leaf hanging vines. We had some large Groupers and Hog fish hang out around us for quite some time. I can only guess that they're used to being fed by the commercial dive boats. At one level there was what looked like a balcony running for hundreds of feet. At one spot there was a school of large French Angels and we've never seen them school before. It's easy to go deep here; I made it to 157' and Sue made it to 145'. We never saw any stalactites, but it was still a very interesting dive. We're both glad that we did it.

After a much better trip back along the reef we pulled into Half Moon Cay. This cay is within a marine park and hosts a nesting area for thousands of Red Foot Boobies. We'll explore the island and do a dive today and we'll report on that later.

-- Geoff & Sue

There are lots more photos on my web site at www.geoffschultz.org.  Please visit it!
Log ID: 336