Diving Excitement

If your next vacation takes you to a tropical climate and a coastal setting, why not learn to scuba dive? Few experiences can compare to the sense of freedom and total immersion that comes from swimming alongside sharks, rays, and whales, and from glimpsing amazing undersea sights with your own eyes, tens of meters beneath the ocean’s sparkling surface. Along the tourist trails that run through Central and South America, many dive shops specialize in teaching and certifying first-time divers how to pursue this very popular sport safely and with confidence. If you’ve never dived before, you have nothing to fear, as the diving instructors will be on-hand to prevent novices from making any dangerous mistakes, and are well-experienced at assisting anyone who can part with the modest instructional fee (and a few days to find your water wings). They’ll help you get the most out of what will almost surely be an experience that generates life-long memories – and some truly remarkable photographs, if you happen to bring an underwater camera!

Belize’s Great Blue Hole

One of the most popular and renowned diving locations on earth can be found off the coast of Belize. Surrounded by tropical reef, the Great Blue Hole is a diving experience unlike any other you’re likely to encounter. Viewed from the air, the hole looks like a period in the middle of Lighthouse Reef, which lies about 70 kilometers from Belize City. A sinkhole 300 meters wide and almost 125 meters deep, the Great Blue Hole is essentially a vertical cave that, while it won’t take you twenty thousand fathoms down, will afford some of the most spectacular views of marine life available anywhere in the American tropics. Made of karst limestone, it is the largest and most impressive of several such formations, called Cenotes, that exist in the Caribbean amidst crystal-clear waters, affording scuba-diving enthusiasts a rare opportunity to see the unfiltered depths, like an elevator ride to the bottom of the sea. The Hole is so deep, in fact, that it’s blue color comes not from any impurities in the water, but from a trick of the light. The water near the hole is quite shallow and it’s bottom can be easily seen, but the light reflecting off the pure white sand at the hole’s terminus creates the illusion of a dark blue dot in the middle of a turquoise field.

Millennia in the Making

The Hole was formed, according to scientists, during ice ages, when worldwide glaciation lowered sea levels dramatically. Exposed to the erosive elements of wind and rain, the caves formed over a period of tens of millennia, and when the ice melted and the seas returned, the roof eventually caved, exposing the underwater pit and inviting in any creature capable of penetrating its depths. A bevy of amazing wildlife can be glimpsed on a trip to the Hole, including giant groupers, reef sharks, and even hammerheads. If you’re headed to the vicinity of Central America, don’t omit a stop in Belize to check out the Great Blue Hole. Even if you’ve never dived before, you’ll need only a few days to get certified and in the water. Most dive trips to the Hole are full-day affairs with at least three dives in various locations. What better way to inaugurate yourself into the community of divers than by tackling one of the planet’s most spectacular underwater sights?

Duende Tours is a tour operator with a special focus on adventure travel. See Duende Adventure Tours to find out more or go to Belize Scuba Diving.

Tags: Adventure Holiday

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