EXPLORING MYSTERIOUS BOTTOM OF BLUE HOLE (+VIDEO!)
The Mysterious Belize Great Blue Hole is a large underwater hole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is perfectly circular in shape, over 300 metres (1000 ft) across, 3140 feet circumference and 125 metres (410 ft) deep.
It was formed as a limestone cave system during the last glacial period when the sea level was 400 to 500 feet below present time and was dryland. Last glacial period began about 120,000 years ago and end about 15,000 years ago. Reaching the maximum extension 26,500 years ago. At the end the ocean began to rise, the caves flooded, and the roof collapsed. Believed to be the world's largest feature of its kind, the Great Blue Hole is part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a World Heritage site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The hole itself is the opening to a system of caves and passageway that penetrate this undersea mountain. In various places, massive limestone stalactites hang down from what was once the ceiling of air-filled caves thousand of years before the end of the last Ice Age 15,000 years ago. When the ice melted the sea level rose, flooding the caves. This process occurred in stages. Evidence for this are the shelves and ledges, carved into the limestone by the sea, which run the complete interior circumference of the Blue Hole at various depths. The Blue Hole is a "karst- eroded sinkhole." It was once a cave at the center of an underground tunnel complex whose ceiling collapsed. Some of the tunnels are thought to be linked right through to the mainland, though this has never been conclusively proved. The mainland itself has many water-filled sinkholes that are connected to caves and tunnels. Notable are the large population of sharks such as lemon, black tip, reef, hammerhead, and bull sharks.
Mysterious and legends always have been around the Belize Blue Hole. It's the kind of underwater geology that inspires speculation about aliens creating geometrically perfect anomalies, mermaids and monsters living in darkness.
I explored the bottom of the Blue Hole perimeter (3,140 feet circumference). To do this I dove down twice, reaching the depth of 375' feet which took 4 to 5 hours of diving each day.
The Great Blue Hole Belize, Central America Aerial Tour with Tropic Air
The Great Blue Hole is a large submarine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 70 km from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is circular in shape, over 300 m across and 124 m deep.
Hello Divers! If you have ever wondered what it was like to go and see the Great Blue Hole of Belize, take a look at this quick video. We run out there three times a week and love it! We would like to thank Slightly Stoopid for allowing us to use their track, "Ska Diddy", videographers Marty O'Farrell and Tony Rath, Astrum Helicopter tours of Belize, and most of all -- our divers who make showing up to work a joy!
The Great Blue Hole is a large submarine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 70 km (43 mi) from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is circular in shape, over 300 m (984 ft) across and 124 m (407 ft) deep.It was formed during several episodes of quaternary glaciation when sea levels were much lower. Analysis of stalactites found in Great Blue Hole shows that formation took place 153,000; 66,000; 60,000; and 15,000 years ago.As the ocean began to rise again, the cave was flooded.The Great Blue Hole is a part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a World Heritage Site
Really? 76 degrees? It feels more like 65.....Maybe it's my age and fair weather attitude....However, I thought it was much colder down there..... Brrrrrr.....
The Great Blue Hole: Diving into an Incredible Underwater Sinkhole
My adventure from sky high to ocean deep, to see Belize's amazing blue hole.
This is the Great Blue Hole in Belize, a plunging 124 m drop in the middle of a shallow reef. In 1971, Jacques-Yves Cousteau visited the hole with his ship, the Calypso, and declared it to be one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world.
In December 2012, I traveled to Belize to see it.
This is my trip in photos.
I found out there are two ways of getting to the Great Blue Hole.
The first way is to take a boat there.
But the classic photo - the giant eye in a sea of turquoise - well, that can only be seen from the sky.
I had no idea which to choose. So I did both.
I went looking a plane that would fly over the Great Blue Hole, but it wasn't so straightforward. I walked the entire city of San Pedro and couldn't find any company offering a flight tour.
So on the morning of Christmas Eve, we took a chance and showed up at the local airport.
We chartered our own private plane to take us out to the Great Blue Hole. It was $544 for a 8-seater plane, except, there were only 4 of us.
In less than half an hour, we were aboard the plane with our pilot.
We took off over the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second largest barrier reef in the world after the Great Barrier Reef.
After 20 minutes across the Caribbean Sea, we were over Lighthouse Reef and spotted the Great Blue Hole.
We circled the hole several times, from the left and right so both sides of the plane could get a good look.
The money shot.
It was awesome and an incredible sight to behold. But after 10 minutes, we ran out of the time we paid for the plane. We turned around and headed back for shore.
Two days later, I decided I couldn't leave without touching the sacrewaters of the Great Blue Hole.
So I signed up for a scuba diving trip.
It was a miserable, nausea-inducing, bumpy two-hour boat ride.
Once you've reached, the sheer size of the Great Blue Hole makes it difficult to tell that you're actually there.
Excitedly, everyone geared up and jumped into the water.
The dive begins with a steep vertical descent into darkness.
The interior of the blue hole is shaped like� basically, not what you had in mind.
At around 32 m deep, you'll come upon the world's largest underwater stalactites.
I descended further to a depth of 45 m. This is 5 m past the absolute depth limit for recreational dives.
On deep dives like this, the nitrogen you breathe has the same effects as alcohol.
The divemasters reported that at these depths, they've had people taking their masks off, removing their regulator from their mouths, wanting to go deeper and deeper, or cut themselves from touching the stalactites. Obviously, going to the full depth of 124 m is not possible, but that apparently doesn't stop some people from trying - with fatal consequences.
A diver in my group started laughing uncontrollably with the regulator in her mouth, coughing out bouts of bubbles. The divemaster broke her off from the group to resurface.
And then things started going weird for me too. I started experiencing vertigo, losing sense of what's up and what's down. I looked at my dive buddy. He looked 3 m tall, like a giant.
Shit.
I looked around, and I realized we were the only ones left at 45 m. The divemaster was frantically signaling for us to ascent. And we so did.
This is my "that was some scary shit" face.
Fun's over. Because of the depth and difficulty of the dive, it was kept short.
A new personal depth record - 145 ft! Also a new human stupidity record.
One of the problems with our dive was the ridiculous number of divers on the trip. Many were beginner divers with less than a week's experience.
We had at least 15 divers to a single divemaster. It was reckless, dangerous and poorly managed.
But when all is said and done, the Great Blue Hole is truly an amazing place.
Flying over and diving into the Great Blue Hole are two completely different experiences - I would actually advise doing both.
How much did it cost me?
$1211, give or take.
The breakdown
$720- Flight from San Francisco to Belize City (round-trip)
$40 - Taxi & ferry from Belize City to San Pedro
$136- Chartering a private plane to the Great Blue Hole
$215 - Scuba diving trip to the Great Blue Hole
$100 - Accommodation & food for 2 days
Prices are per person. This is a reasonable estimate, and you can do it for much less.
The Blue Hole Helicopter Flight - 50 miles off the coast of Belize City, Belize. Filmed with an early model GoPro.
Blue Hole Dive-Belize
A dive in Belize's famous Blue Hole, numerous sharks. The little cave system is between 130 and 140 feet. The dive computer is not happy about this.
I Belize I can Fly........
P2V+ over the Blue Hole...
150 Foot Dive Blue Hole Belize AND diving in the BLUE HOLE CAVES!! NOT for the inexperienced!!!
Day 2 Dive 1 Blue Hole Captain Eduardo Drop off 2:00 Stalagmites 3:45 Picture 9:00 Shark 9:35 - Shark 9:35 - Great shot 10:30 - Shark 10:55 - Shark Group 11:15 - Clam 13:15 - Cave 13:40
Greg and I did this dive at the blue Hole on July 16th 2015. We were part of a group of about 12 people however we hired the captain of the boat as our private guide. Greg and I have deep diving training and wreck specialty. This dive was to 150 feet but the best part of the dive was what 99.9% of the people who dive the blue hole NEVER get to experience. Our guide took us into one of the many caves that are hidden by the stalactites and stalagmites. This was an incredible experience!
Diving the Blue Hole with Amigos del Mar Dive Shop
The largest ocean sinkhole in the world. The Great Blue Hole
World Heritage site Blue Hole, Belize, Central America from 1500 feet.
CHOPPER VIEWS OF THE BLUE HOLE
Diving The Great Blue Hole
The complete dive. Keep watching the ascent for some sharks that circle us from the abyss.
The Great Blue Hole in Belize seen by airplane
Flying over the Great Blue Hole in Belize by airplane. The flight lasts 1 hour approximately, taking most of the time to go there and back and 10 minutes flying in circles around the Blue Hole. Views are impressive the whole time, since you can enjoy the natural beauty of the Mesoamerican Coral Reef with so many tons of blue and green colours, while getting to know this natural wonder of the Caribbean. In the flight back, you can also see a wreck ship in the banks of the reef.
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