Lighthouse Reef and Goff’s Caye, Belize
The day started with a fireball sunrise as we headed out to Lighthouse Reef Atoll located about 40 miles to the east of Belize as the crow flies. We were coming from Sapodilla Lagoon and had traveled most of the night to get here. The sea was so calm and inviting and we all waited anxiously for the Zodiacs, so that we could head out to our various destinations. We had arrived at Half Moon Caye, which is located at the southeast corner of Lighthouse Reef, the most eastern of the three atolls in Belizean waters. The caye itself is approximately 45 acres in size and is divided into two distinct ecosystems. Half Moon Caye is a sand caye formed by the accretion of fragments of coral, shells and calcareous algae broken down by continuous wave action.
The red-footed booby has made this its home along with the magnificent frigatebird, numbering around 4000 breeding birds. So the government of Belize decided to make this area a natural monument and this was established in 1982. The only other similar red-footed booby colony is on an island near Tobago. Our group made their way thru the Zericote trees with their orange blossoms and found many iguanas in these trees. The rustling in the dry leaves on the sandy floor, was caused by huge hermit crabs, that also share the caye. But the viewing platform located in the middle of the fig trees and Gumbo-limbo forest was a real delight. Here was an excellent opportunity to observe the nesting colony of birds. They were everywhere!
But underwater, it was a totally different experience. As we dropped into the blue clear waters beside the ship, we let ourselves fall slowly below off the wall that dropped to 4000 feet! We settled instead for a comfortable 60-foot dive. Large cubera snapper and Nassau groupers cruised along the drop-off. We passed over the tops of several huge barrel sponges that could have encompassed several divers with tanks. But the sea life was teeming everywhere! Creole wrasse streamed across the reef crest, schools of yellowtail jack swam slowly above us and below on the wall a gigantic barracuda was at a cleaning station seemingly enjoying the attention from the cleaner gobies. The coral formations created a lunar landscape but there was clearly no loss of life here. The vista was unbelievable as everywhere we turned there was something to see!
We had one more stop to make on our way in to Belize city and so we moved on to the west and had a pod of frolicking dolphins join us! What a day! We shuttled into the west beach of Goff’s Caye, our last destination of our odyssey from Panama. This tiny caye is located about 12 miles to the south east of Belize City and is a very popular weekend spot for locals. The beach was perfect and so was the little reef found here. We happily recounted our incredible experiences of the last two weeks and watched as the sun neared the horizon in the hopes of seeing a “green flash”. Our hotel manager had surprised us with farewell cocktails on the beach and we raised our glasses in a toast to a successful voyage. It just doesn’t get any better than this.
The day started with a fireball sunrise as we headed out to Lighthouse Reef Atoll located about 40 miles to the east of Belize as the crow flies. We were coming from Sapodilla Lagoon and had traveled most of the night to get here. The sea was so calm and inviting and we all waited anxiously for the Zodiacs, so that we could head out to our various destinations. We had arrived at Half Moon Caye, which is located at the southeast corner of Lighthouse Reef, the most eastern of the three atolls in Belizean waters. The caye itself is approximately 45 acres in size and is divided into two distinct ecosystems. Half Moon Caye is a sand caye formed by the accretion of fragments of coral, shells and calcareous algae broken down by continuous wave action.
The red-footed booby has made this its home along with the magnificent frigatebird, numbering around 4000 breeding birds. So the government of Belize decided to make this area a natural monument and this was established in 1982. The only other similar red-footed booby colony is on an island near Tobago. Our group made their way thru the Zericote trees with their orange blossoms and found many iguanas in these trees. The rustling in the dry leaves on the sandy floor, was caused by huge hermit crabs, that also share the caye. But the viewing platform located in the middle of the fig trees and Gumbo-limbo forest was a real delight. Here was an excellent opportunity to observe the nesting colony of birds. They were everywhere!
But underwater, it was a totally different experience. As we dropped into the blue clear waters beside the ship, we let ourselves fall slowly below off the wall that dropped to 4000 feet! We settled instead for a comfortable 60-foot dive. Large cubera snapper and Nassau groupers cruised along the drop-off. We passed over the tops of several huge barrel sponges that could have encompassed several divers with tanks. But the sea life was teeming everywhere! Creole wrasse streamed across the reef crest, schools of yellowtail jack swam slowly above us and below on the wall a gigantic barracuda was at a cleaning station seemingly enjoying the attention from the cleaner gobies. The coral formations created a lunar landscape but there was clearly no loss of life here. The vista was unbelievable as everywhere we turned there was something to see!
We had one more stop to make on our way in to Belize city and so we moved on to the west and had a pod of frolicking dolphins join us! What a day! We shuttled into the west beach of Goff’s Caye, our last destination of our odyssey from Panama. This tiny caye is located about 12 miles to the south east of Belize City and is a very popular weekend spot for locals. The beach was perfect and so was the little reef found here. We happily recounted our incredible experiences of the last two weeks and watched as the sun neared the horizon in the hopes of seeing a “green flash”. Our hotel manager had surprised us with farewell cocktails on the beach and we raised our glasses in a toast to a successful voyage. It just doesn’t get any better than this.
