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Turneffe Atoll | Lighthouse Reef Atoll, the Blue Hole, and Half Moon Caye | Glover’s Reef Atoll

There are only four atolls in the Western Hemisphere, and three of them are off Belize (the fourth is Chinchorro Reef, off Mexico’s Yucatán). Belize’s atolls—Turneffe, Lighthouse, and Glover’s—are oval-shape masses of coral. A few small islands, some sandy and others mostly mangrove, rise up along the atolls’ encircling coral arms. Within the coral walls are central lagoons, with shallow water 10 to 30 feet deep. Outside the walls, the ocean falls off sharply to 1,000 feet or more, deeper than any diver can go.

Unlike the more common Pacific atolls, which were formed from underwater volcanoes, the Caribbean atolls began forming millions of years ago, atop giant tectonic faults. As giant limestone blocks slowly settled, they provided platforms for coral growth.

Because of their remoteness (they’re 25 miles [40 km] to 50 miles [80 km] from the mainland) and because most of the islands at the atolls are small, the atolls have remained nearly pristine. Only a few small dive and fishing resorts are here, and the serious divers and anglers who favor the area know that they have some of the best diving and fishing in the Caribbean, if not the world. The atolls are also wonderful for beachcombing, relaxing, and snorkeling—just bring plenty of books, as there are no shops or restaurants other than at the hotels. Of course, paradise has its price: most of the atoll resorts are very, very expensive and have minimum-stay requirements. You can buy a small new compact car for the cost of bringing your family for a week to most of these atoll lodges. While there are good reasons why remote fishing and diving lodges on the cayes must charge a small fortune just to break even, the high rates are one prominent reason Belize is considered a high-cost vacation destination.

Getting Here and Around

Getting to the atolls usually requires a long boat ride, sometimes rough enough to bring on mal de mer. You’ll need to take one of the scheduled boats provided by your lodge or ride out on a dive or snorkel boat with a group; otherwise, you’ll likely pay BZ$800–BZ$2,000 or more to charter a boat one-way. Remember, there are no commercial services at the atolls, except those associated with an island dive or fishing lodge. To charter a boat, check with a lodge on the atoll where you wish to go, or ask locally at docks in Belize City, San Pedro, Dangriga, Hopkins, or Placencia.

Dive shops and sailing charters in San Pedro, Caye Caulker, Placencia, and Hopkins make regular trips to the atolls, and may take additional passengers, for a fee, if space is available.

Timing

Because of the difficulty and expense of getting to the atolls, most resorts have minimum-stay requirements, sometimes as little as three days but more often a week. There’s nothing to do on the atolls except dive, snorkel, fish, eat, sleep, and drink. If you don’t like sea sports, or if you do but hit consecutive days of bad weather, you may be bored out of your gourd.

Glover’s Atoll Resort.
RESORT | One of the most basic, and also one of the most beautiful, island camps in Belize is Glover’s Atoll Resort. In truth, staying here is like camping, and to call it a resort is to stretch the definition a long, long way. But the prisine beauty of the atoll is what makes it special. Rates are affordable: Tent camping is BZ$198 per person for six nights, and over-the-water thatch cabañas are around BZ$600 double for six nights. (All rates plus tax.) There’s no power and no running water. You need to bring your own food and water, toilet paper, soap, and other necessities, as prepared meals (for example, breakfast is BZ$24) and supplies on the island are expensive. Diving and snorkeling are great. Free transport to the atoll leaves Sittee River on Sunday and returns on Saturday; if you miss that you’ll pay BZ$1,400 round-trip for up to six persons from Sittee, and BZ$3,200 from Belize City. Pros: beautiful, pristine atoll and surrounding waters; superb diving, snorkeling, and fishing nearby. Cons: primitive living conditions. | Rooms from: BZ$90 | Glover’s Atoll Resort, Northeast Caye, Glovers Reef | Northeast Caye | 223/5224 | www.glovers.com.bz | 9 cabanas, camping | Multiple meal plans.

Turneffe Atoll

25 miles (40 km) east of Belize City.

The largest of the three atolls, Turneffe, is the closest to Belize City. It’s one of the best spots for diving, thanks to several steep drop-offs. Only an hour from Lighthouse Reef and 45 minutes from the northern edge of Glover’s Reef, Turneffe is a good base for exploring all the atolls.

The best-known attraction, and probably Belize’s most exciting wall dive, is the Elbow, at Turneffe’s southernmost tip. You may encounter eagle rays swimming nearby. As many as 50 might flutter together, forming a rippling herd. Elbow is generally considered an advanced dive because of the strong currents, which sweep you toward the deep water beyond the reef.

Though it’s most famous for its spectacular wall dives, the atoll has dives for every level. The leeward side, where the reef is wide and gently sloping, is good for shallower dives and snorkeling; you’ll see large concentrations of tube sponges, soft corals such as forked sea feathers and sea fans, and plenty of fish. Also on the atoll’s western side is the wreck of the Sayonara. No doubloons to scoop up here—it was a small passenger and cargo boat that sank in 1985—but it’s good for wreck dive practice.

Fishing here, as at all of the atolls, is world-class. You can fly-fish for bonefish and permit in the grassy flats, or go after migratory tarpon from May to September in the channels and lagoons of the atoll. Jack, barracuda, and snappers lurk in the mangrove-lined bays and shorelines. Billfish, sailfish, and other big creatures are in the blue water around the atoll.

Where to Stay

Fodor’s Choice | Turneffe Flats.
RESORT | The sound of the surf is the only thing you’ll hear at these smart, white with blue trim, red-roofed beachfront air-conditioned cabins. Turneffe Flats is on the northeastern side of the Turneffe Atoll on a private point with white-sand beach and a wadeable bonefish flat. The rooms, fitted with elegant hardwoods, are a far cry from the bare-bones fishing camp that occupied this site in the early ‘80s. More recently two three-bedroom villas have been added on the 25-acre grounds, along with an infinity swimming pool. The social heart of the resort is a lodge with bar, dining room (meals are served family style) and two levesl of decks with sea views. You can dive at Turneffe Flats - 48- and 29-foot dive boats are on standby and the reef is only 200 yards from shore - but the ubiquitous fishing-pole racks suggest that bonefish, permit, and tarpon are still the dominant lure. For these fish you usually go out on 16-foot flats skiffs, with two anglers and a guide per boat. You pay a pretty penny to indulge your passion, however - a weekly fishing package for two in-season is around BZ$17,000 including meals, taxes, and guided fishing, but not your bar tab or tips. Dive packages are somewhat less. Pros: quality fishing lodge; beautiful atoll scenery; diving and just plain relaxing available. Cons: comes at a price. | Rooms from: BZ$1038 | Turneffe Flats Lodge, Turneffe Atoll | 232/9022, 888/512–8812 | www.tflats.com | 8 cottages, 2 3-bedroom villas | Multiple meal plans.

Fodor’s Choice | Turneffe Island Resort.
ALL-INCLUSIVE | White dive tanks serving as fence posts and a rusty anchor from an 18th-century British warship set the tone at this remote upscale resort offering fishing, diving, beachcombing, and more, including a spa. This was Turneffe Atoll’s first dive lodge, and it bagged the best spot a few hundred yards from the legendary Elbow. If you came to Belize for the diving, this is an ideal base. The rooms, in palm-shaded, white cottages with sea views, have been refurbished without spoiling the cozy feeling created by the varnished hardwood fittings. Eight beachfront cabañas are solid mahogany inside. The two-story colonial-style house holds the bar and the dining room. The resort isn’t for penny-pinchers: a weekly fishing package with loding and meals is almost BZ$19,000 for two, not including bar tab, tips, or tours. A week’s dive package in a private cottage is around BZ$18,000 for two. Transportation to the island from Belize City is included, but not airfare to Belize. Pros: beautiful atoll setting near great diving and snorkeling; delicious and varied meals. Cons: very expensive. | Rooms from: BZ$1333 | Coco Tree Caye | 532/2990, 800/874–0118 | www.turnefferesort.com | 12 rooms, 8 cabanas | Closed Sept. and Oct. | All-inclusive.

Lighthouse Reef Atoll, the Blue Hole, and Half Moon Caye

50 miles (80 km) east of Belize City.

If Robinson Crusoe had been a man of means, he would have repaired here for a break from his desert island.

Lighthouse Reef is about 18 miles (29 km) long and less than 1 mile (2 km) wide and is surrounded by a seemingly endless stretch of coral. Here you’ll find two of the country’s best dives.

At this writing, visiting Lighthouse Reef is best done as a side trip from Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, or another location in northern Belize. The marine reserve fee here is a steep BZ$80 per person.

Top Attractions

Fodor’s Choice | Blue Hole.
From the air, the Blue Hole, a breathtaking vertical chute that drops several hundred feet through the reef, looks like a dark blue eye in the center of the shallow lagoon. The Blue Hole was first dived by Jacques Cousteau in 1970 and has since become a diver’s pilgrimage site. Just over 1,000 feet wide at the surface and dropping almost vertically to a depth of 412 feet, the Blue Hole is like swimming down a mineshaft, but a mineshaft with hammerhead sharks. This excitement is reflected in the thousands of stickers and tee-shirts reading, “I Dived the Blue Hole.” | Lighthouse Reef, Blue Hole.

Half Moon Caye.
The best diving on Lighthouse Reef is at Half Moon Caye Wall, a classic wall dive. Half Moon Caye begins at 35 feet and drops almost vertically to blue infinity. Floating out over the edge is a bit like free-fall parachuting. Magnificent spurs of coral jut out to the seaward side, looking like small tunnels; they’re fascinating to explore and invariably full of fish. An exceptionally varied marine life hovers around this caye. On the gently sloping sand flats behind the coral spurs, a vast colony of garden eels stirs, their heads protruding from the sand like periscopes. Spotted eagle rays, sea turtles, and other underwater wonders frequent the drop-off. The island named Half Moon Caye is managed by the Belize Audubon Society. It is famous for its colony of red-footed booby birds that numbers about 4,000. | Lighthouse Reef, Half Moon Caye | www.belizeaudubon.org | BZ$80.

Half Moon Caye National Monument.
Belize’s easternmost island offers one of Belize’s greatest wildlife encounters, although it’s difficult to reach and lacks accommodations other than camping. Part of the Lighthouse Reef system, Half Moon Caye owes its protected status to the presence of the red-footed booby. The bird is here in such numbers that it’s hard to believe it has only one other nesting ground in the entire Caribbean (on Tobago Island, off the coast of Venezuela). Some 4,000 of these birds hang their hats on Half Moon Caye, along with iguanas, lizards, and loggerhead turtles. The entire 40-acre island is a nature reserve, so you can explore the beaches or head into the bush on the narrow nature trail. Above the trees at the island’s center is a small viewing platform—at the top you’re suddenly in a sea of birds that will doubtless remind you of a certain Alfred Hitchcock movie. Several dive operators and resorts arrange day trips and overnight camping trips to Half Moon Caye. Managed by the Belize Audubon Society, the park fee here is a steep BZ$80 per person. | Half Moon Caye National Monument | www.belizeaudubon.org | BZ$80.

Glover’s Reef Atoll

70 miles (113 km) southeast of Belize City.

Named after the pirate John Glover, this coral necklace strung around an 80-square-mile (208-square-km) lagoon is the southernmost of Belize’s three atolls. There are five islands at the atoll. Visitors to Glover’s Reef are charged a BZ$20 park fee (BZ$25 for fly-fishing).

Worth Noting

Emerald Forest Reef.
Although most of the best dive sites are along the Glover’s Atoll’s southeastern side, this is the exception. It’s named for its masses of huge green elkhorn coral. Because the reef’s most exciting part is only 25 feet down, it’s excellent for novice divers. | Glover’s Reef.

Long Caye Wall.
This is an exciting wall at Glover’s Atoll with a dramatic drop-off hundreds of feet down. It’s a good place to spot turtles, rays, and barracuda. | Glover’s Reef.

Southwest Caye Wall.
Southwest Caye Wall is an underwater cliff that falls quickly to 130 feet. It’s briefly interrupted by a narrow shelf, then continues its near-vertical descent to 350 feet. This dive gives you the exhilaration of flying in blue space, so it’s easy to lose track of how deep you are going. Both ascent and descent require careful monitoring. | Glover’s Reef.

Kayaking is another popular sport here; you can paddle out to the atoll’s many patch reefs for snorkeling. Most hotels rent kayaks.

Where to Stay

Isla Marisol.
RESORT | At Isla Marisol, almost 40 miles (67 km) off Belize’s coast at Glover’s Reef, after a good night’s sleep in an air-conditioned cabana, and a breakfast of mango and johnnycake, you can dive “The Pinnacles,” where coral heads rise 40 feet from the ocean floor. Then, after a lobster or fish dinner and a few Belikins on a pier 100 feet into the Caribbean, wander back to your cabin, a breezy retreat built of tropical hardwoods. Pros: Belizean-owned and run; beautiful setting; great diving; you can see whale sharks in the late spring. Cons: prices aren’t a bargain; sand flies sometimes are troublesome. | Rooms from: BZ$1326 | Southwest Caye, Isla Marisol | 855/350–1569 in U.S. and Canada | www.islamarisolresort.com | 10 cabins, 1 2-bedroom house | Some meals.

Off the Wall Dive Center & Resort.
RESORT | Though this lodge on Glover’s Atoll focuses on diving, there’s excellent snorkeling and fishing as well. Depending on your point of view, you’ll find the small wood cabins, composting toilets, and outdoor rainwater showers either eco-rustic or basic. Meals are served in a beachfront thatch palapa with sand floor. There’s a seven-day minimum, and packages with lodging and meals start at around BZ$6,000 double for a week, including lodging, meals, transportation to the island, and hotel tax but, rather surprisingly for a dive lodge, not diving (a 12-dive package is an extra BZ$820 per person, plus 12.5% tax). Tips, alcoholic drinks, fishing, and some other services are also extra. Pros: competitive price (for an atoll lodge in Belize); easy access to great diving; very knowledgeable dive staff. Cons: modest accommodations; bugs can be a nuisance. | Rooms from: BZ$860 | Off the Wall Dive Center, Long Caye, Glover’s Reef Atoll | 532/2929 | www.offthewallbelize.com | 5 cabanas | All meals.

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