The Great Blue Hole - a hole in the world's largest blue - is a big drain on the coast of Belize. It is located near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of mainland Belize. This hole perfectly round, more than 1,000 feet (305 meters) and depth of 480 feet (146 meters).

Depth creating indigo blue color that causes such structures is known as the 'blue hole.

Pederson's cleaning shrimp that inhabit everywhere and surrounded by prominent anemone, and the neon gobies advertise their cleaning services from various coral heads. Angelfish, butterflyfish, hamnlets, and small groupers are also frequently seen. Elkhorn coral is growing to the surface and sweeping purple seafans in calm water surface, they look rich shimmering colors.

The walls are thin from the surface to a depth of about 110 feet (44 meters) where you begin to discover the actual formation of stalactites back angle, which allows you to dive under the overhang horrible. Water movement and visibility approaching 200 feet (61 meters).

The deeper areas in the Blue Hole does not have abundant life because of the walls that limit, resulting in a lack of water circulation and light.

Local residents feel this should be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. And now protected by the Belize Audubon Society and the Belize National Monument. It became a World Heritage site in 1997

Over millions of years in the Blue Hole is a large dry cave and stalactites and stalagmites slowly formed. When the last ice age ended thousands of years ago, sea levels rise to cover the cave. When diving at Blue Hole, you swim beneath what remains of the old ceiling to view the rest of stalactites and stalagmites.

A major earthquake will cause the cave ceiling collapsed to form the sinkhole, and the turbulence has the effect of Lighthouse Reef tilted to an angle of about 12 degrees. Along the walls of this cave is a former overhang and the edge, housing Pleistocene stalactites, stalagmites, and columns.

Evidence for this is the edge of the shelf and carved in limestone by the sea, which run around the complete interior of the Blue Hole at various depths. The first of these edges was found between 150 and 165 meters (45-50 feet) and the most visited on the south side.



A deeper dive into the Blue Hole, a clear water and more spectacular scenery, a strange array of stalactites and limestone formations which form the walls become more complex and intense.

On the west side at a depth of 230 feet (70 meters), there are entrance through a narrow tunnel into a large cave. Total darkness, stalactites, stalagmites, and columns in the world that are not disturbed.

The floor was covered with silt very fine waves into large clouds with a slight movement of a passing diver. In the farthest corner, another narrow passage leading up to a cave and other caves emharah to 2 and 3, where there are skeletal remains of turtles have never find a way out of there ..

Part of the tunnel is estimated to be directly connected to the mainland, although never conclusively proven. Mainland also has a lot of holes filled with water that is connected to the caves and tunnels.

2-foot long laminated sediment cores revealed that circulated during the study by Robert F. Dill and divers from the Cambrian Foundation in 1997. There is no oxygen near the bottom, and hydrogen sulfide under the sea to prevent residents dig and disturb the sediment.

Preliminary analysis of short cores show fluctuating pollen, spores, mercury, and arsenic levels ranged between 15 and 21 ppm (parts per million). Other events recorded in the short cores, including a hurricane or major storm levels. Storm layers of light and beautiful color.