By Jenny Peters
BELIZE WAS A PLACE ON MY BUCKET LIST (THE LIST OF THINGS TO DO AND
PLACES TO SEE BEFORE I DIE), SO I WAS THRILLED TO FINALLY BE HEADING TO
THAT SMALL CENTRAL AMERICAN COUNTRY AND ITS VERY, VERY BIG BLUE HOLE.
The Great Blue Hole is the world-famous sinkhole located in the Caribbean Sea near Ambergris Caye, at Lighthouse Reef Atoll. Surrounded by a lush reef system – Belize has the second longest barrier reef in the world, second only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – the hole is a densely deep blue circle in the midst of turquoise blue waters.
Attempting to scuba dive in the Great Blue Hole is not for amateurs, for, as Jacques Cousteau confirmed in the 1970’s, it goes to a depth of 400 feet. For divers, this place is at the top of any must-do list, despite the fact that it is practically devoid of fish, sharks, or any other creatures. Instead, it is about the doing, for it is a
very deep dive (135 feet) into an eerie place, where huge stalactites hang in a lonely line. Traveling to Ambergris Caye and the Great Blue Hole from Los Angeles took a while, via American Airlines through Dallas, to Belize City, then on to a Tropic Air puddle jump flight to San Pedro on the caye, where I finally arrived at Matachica Beach Resort (www.matachica.com).
A wonderfully relaxed tropical oasis, the resort offers beachfront thatched-roof casitas with private patios, hammocks, air conditioning, and indigenous Central American furnishings; and luxury villas with two bedrooms, two baths, living room, and kitchenette, with patio and a separate screened-in sun deck.
