Coming up, Jonathan explores one of the most famous ocean features in the world: the great
blue hole of Belize!
Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World!
Zach and I have come on an expedition to explore the underwater world of Belize.
We are working from the Aggressor III Liveaboard, which means we stay on this luxury yacht for
a whole week, diving four to five times a day.
We have explored some amazing sites both during the day and at night.
We have experienced wonderful visibility and met some curious and interesting creatures
on the reefs of Belize.
Today, we are going to visit the Great Blue Hole, located 40 miles off the coast near
Lighthouse Reef.
The Great Blue Hole is the largest and most famous ocean blue hole in the world.
It’s 1000 feet across, 400 feet deep, and was proclaimed one of the best dive sites
in the world by none other than Jacques Cousteau.
The Blue Hole formed as a cave from erosion during several ice ages in the distant past,
when sea levels were lower.
Eventually, the ceiling of the cave fell in, forming a blue hole.
But then as the ice ages came to an end, ocean levels rose, filling it with water and turning
a blue hole into an ocean blue hole.
We see similar formations today on land.
In Mexico and Belize they are celled cenotes, but in the Bahamas, they are called Blue Holes.
Captain Ken gives us a dive briefing on what to expect.
The ceiling became nice and porous.
That eventually caved in…
Next it’s time to suit up.
Zach and I follow divemaster Rocke over the edge, and down the vertical wall of the blue
hole.
It’s 1,000 feet across, so we can’t see the other side.
And at 400 feet deep, we won’t be seeing the bottom either.
At about a hundred feet, we reach an overhang filled with stalactites.
These icicle-looking formations were formed over thousands of years by dripping water,
when the ocean levels were lower.
Back then, they would have looked like the stalactites in dry caves do now.
But since they are submerged in the ocean, they have marine life such as coral, sponges
and algae growing on them.
These formations date back as far as 150,000 years, and the largest ones are more than
40 feet long.
Down here beyond 100 feet, we don’t have much time to explore before we have to turn
and head back.
Heading back up, I have a look at the life on the wall.
There aren’t many nooks and crannies for fish.
It’s mostly some coral and a lot of algae.
The shallower we get, the more life there is.
At the top, we have a few minutes to make a safety stop, and I have a look at the dense
coral reef growing here.
As the sea levels rose above the top of the blue hole, coral grew along with it, following
the ocean surface.
That’s why we can see coral all the way around the blue hole from the air.
This healthy reef is home to fish like the French angelfish and Queen angelfish, among
others.
Once we finish our safety stop, we swim across lush sea grass beds to the Aggressor.
Woo!
The great blue hole is a world-famous geological formation, which may be too large to truly
appreciate from underwater.
In my dive I was only able to see a small part of this immense blue hole in a blue world.
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