Scuba Diving Barrier Reef

Scuba Diving Barrier Reef

The Belize Barrier Reef, at 186 miles in length is the second largest coral formation in the world. The Barrier Reef is made up of a mixture of hard and soft corals, with the hard corals mainly at deeper depths and the soft corals nearer the surface. Commonly seen are Brain and Staghorn Corals, Sponges, Seafans, Finger and Angular Corals.

Featured in:Marine Wildlife, Scuba Diving, Hol Chan
Duration:
4 hrs
Available Days:
Every day
Schedule:
9:00 AM, 11:30 AM, 2:00 AM
Hotel Transport Included
Mobile Ticket Included
Offered in English, Spanish

Coral formations extending out toward the deep, form what are called Finger Canyons. These Coral Ridges, up to 200 feet in length, commonly consist of Blushing and Mountainous Coral, Mustard Hill and Starlet Coral, Brain and Knobby Brain Coral, Thin Leaf and Lettuce Coral and Sponges. The Canyon Bottoms are typically white sandy slopes. The Coral Finger ridges start at a depth of about 40 feet and slope to about 80 feet as they make their way toward the deep water. The Canyon bottoms range from about 60 to 120 feet in depth. These coral fingers provide numerous canyons, tunnels and swim throughs. The Barrier Reef is home to a wide variety of fish including Cubera and Yellowtail Snapper, Parrot Fish,Butterfly Fish, Blue Tang, and Blue Cromise. Barracuda and Moray Eels are commonly seen as are Green, Loggerhead and Hawksbill Turtles. You’ll see Sting Rays, Eagle Rays, and Nurse Sharks and the occasional Caribbean Reef Shark or Manta Ray.

Ramon’s Village Divers maintains a fleet of 4 skiffs ranging in size from 28′ to 34′. These boats are used for dives along the Belize Barrier Reef in the vicinity of Ambergris Caye and carry up to eight divers plus crew. The close proximity of the Barrier Reef, just over a 1/4 mile offshore, allows us to choose from 30 or 40 named sites within a 5 to 15 minute boat ride from our dock. The Miss Gina, our Pro 42 dive boat,carries up to 16 divers plus crew making it an excellent choice for dive groups diving the barrier reef.

Ramon’s Village Divers offer daily trips to dive sites along the Belize Barrier Reef adjacent to Ambergris Caye. Since the dive sites are within minutes of our dock, we return to our dock between dives to exchange scuba tanks and fulfill your surface interval requirement. This allows our divers to choose any combination of dives each day. Our dive sites offer both the novice and experienced diver incredible dive opportunities. Our dive masters and dive guides will customize your dive based upon your skill level.

Attraction Visited

Hol Chan

The quick ride out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve makes this the most popular half-day tour for visitors staying at Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker. Set aside in 1987, this reserve covers an area of 3 square miles (7.8 sq km) and is found off the southern tip of Ambergris Caye. As a result, this area of the Belize Barrier Reef supports healthy populations of fish and colorful coral. Turtles, nurse sharks, grouper, jacks, reef fish, and barracuda are just a few of the species you might see here. The reef ranges from 10–30 feet (3–9 m) deep and most guides take snorkelers along the outer edge of the reef. While this site is great for beginner snorkelers, as well as divers, swimmers should pay attention to currents which can be strong throughout the reserve.

Read more:Hol Chan

Transportation

Many of our tours and activities offer transportation pick up & drop off options from several locations and destinations. Options vary by tour, see “BOOKING REQUEST” for full details.

Traveler Comments

Fantastic. Unfortunately my partner did not pass the health screening so we were prohibited from diving. Dejected we asked the tour operator what our options were. The guides at Ramon’s were fantastic at setting us up with an all day snorkeling tour as well as a tour of Caye Caulker including a fun lunch with our local guides. What started off as a disappointing day quickly turned into one of our favorites!

- TIM H, AUG 2021
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