Snorkelling the blue Hole, Lighthouse Reef

Hi,

I was in Caye Caulker last september, we wanted to go snorkelling at one of the places you mention. However, fellow travellers told us it is not worth it as a snorkeller. The interesting things to see in Blue hole is marine life and it is below 12 m, so even an introductary dive (max 12 meter depth allowed, with an instructor) which we considered instead, would not give us the enjoyment we were looking for. For divers it must be an amazing experience, but as a snorkeller I can imagine you'll have way more fun on a sailing trip. We had an amazing day sailing the caribbean, some reggae music on the background, while snorkelling three manatees came by very close! I had to swim really hard not to touch them as the current was pushing me in their direction... the nurse sharks all disappeared the moment we got into the water, but i've heard that most other groups do get to see them when actually being in the water, but there were also plenty of stingrays surrounding us! and a turtle. We took the raggamuffin trip (company run by some european woman i believe? ) and really liked it, but talk to some locals, on your first afternoon on the island, go to the bar at the split to enjoy a cocktail in the water at sunset and ask around, i'm sure you can have a better trip for less money. However, raggamuffin was a fine tour....But, obviously I cannot say for sure that's the best option as I haven't snorkelled the blue hole...
Have Fun!

i was with a nondiver in january, and checked into taking her to lighthouse as a snorkeler, and found it prohibitively expensive. do one of the raggamuffin (search it) day trips, or better yet the 2 night to placencia.

I disagree completely with Evi. The coral and marine life lives mostly at the top, not the bottom. I did some snorkeling at the Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye and it was some of the best of my life. I went out with Frenchies from Caye Caulker and paid half the price of the diving trip. In fact I have heard from some divers that the Blue Hole dive is not one of their more visual experiences nor their best. It seems to be more of a prestige thing to say that you have dived the Blue Hole. Keep in mind that it is a full day trip leaving early and getting back before sunset. It takes two hours each way. You can also check with Belize Diving Services the night before or check out whomever is going to Lighthouse on the day you want to.

Edited by: Greggo

pardon the sidetracking, but I've dived the Blue Hole twice, and found it to be a visual experience, only in a different way than shallow diving. Not real pretty to look at, but dark/surreal/eldritch down there at 150 ft; you get nitrogen narcosis, as you weave among the huge looming stalactites with the sharks. The descent is also cool, and very long, as you drift like a feather into Xibalba, not seeing the rim till youre way down close. the 2 other dives at lighthouse are superior to turneffe. perhaps because of the remoteness it is less molested by humans. and yes, prestige is an element, as well as getting it out of one's system, satisfying one's curiosity, being qualified to discuss merits/demerits from experience, and such.

Report on what we did in Caye Caulker:

did the Ragamuffin all day 3-stop trip to the marine reserve. Saw a turtle, manatee in the distance, a whaleshark, eagle ray, stingray and fish. Generally okay but when we booked the trip we were told we would have about 3 hours snorkelling time. We ended up with 1 hr 40 mins and felt we were hurried and herded through the water. Quite disappointing. But we were unlucky to do the trip on a day when there were two tour groups taking the trip so perhaps thatwas why - other people who did the trip in a small group had a different experience to us.

After that we were very unenthusiastic about paying to do another snorkelling trip so we just relaxed, snorkelled near the split where there were a lot of interesting fish.

We continued to get very mixed responses about snorkelling the Blue Hole and we didn't do the trip as the negative responses outweighed the positive ones.

Overall we liked the nice relaxed feeling in Caye Caulker and were sorry to leave.

Thanks for letting us know how your trip went. I always wonder if people take the advice offered on forums, if it was good advice etc.; or if travelers do the activities, or change their minds completely when they arrive. It would be great if more people would take the time to post a quick note saying "Yes, we did it, and the advice was great (or all wrong)"

Thanks for the kind words, Deanthecat in #6. I agree with you - nothing so frustrating as finding the thread on thorntree that should answer the question you ask, only to find that the person asking the question never bothered to say what happened.