8 Things you Need to Know about the Great Blue Hole

August 8, 2019

1.  The Great Blue Hole is an underwater sinkhole or cave, located roughly 97 km (60 miles) off the coast of Belize City, Belize.  Most sea holes, just like the Belize Blue Hole, were submerged at the end of the last great Ice Age some 10,000 years ago.

2.  The Great Blue Hole is 300 meters (984 feet) in diameter, the largest blue hole in the world, and it measures 124 meters (407 feet) in depth and is a nearly perfectly circular body of water.

3.  It is part of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System that became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.  The Discovery Channel placed the Great Blue Hole of Belize at number one on its list of ‘The 10 Most Amazing Places on Earth’.

4.  In 1971, explorer and oceanographer, Jacques Cousteau from France, publicized the Great Blue Hole as one of the best scuba sites in the world.  Today it is considered a top 10 bucket list for scuba divers.

5.  The Great Blue Hole is the home to numerous limestone formations that are affected by karst phenomena, including stalactites.

6.  The Great Blue Hole is visible from space, easily identifiable by its unique circular formation and location within the midst of the greater Belize Barrier Reef.

7.  There are over 500 rare forms of animal and plant life found in the Great Blue Hole of Belize, including Midnight Parrotfish, Hammerhead Shark, and other rare fishes.

8.  The Belize Blue Hole is surrounded by the Lighthouse Reef Atoll. Divers can use the shallow waters of the atoll’s lagoon to begin their descent to the now-flooded cave that contains stalactites and stalagmites up to 12 meters (40 feet) in length.The coral atoll surrounding the Belize Blue Hole has an inner ring of shallow, lighter colored water that forms a natural ring around the deeper sapphire waters of the flooded cave giving it its striking visual appearance.