SKIN DIVER MAGAZINE has selected Shark Ray Alley as one of the seven best “animal dives” in the Caribbean. For years, local fishermen cleaned their catch just inside the reef, to the south of Hol Chan Cut and Ambergris Caye. The fishermen soon noticed that the offal from cleaning fish was attracting Nurse Sharks and several Southern Sting Rays. The sharks and rays hear the dive boats approaching and begin to school in anticipation of bait being thrown into the water.

When you arrive, you will see the surface often boiling with rolling sharks and stingray wings as they vie for the scraps. These creatures have a great tolerance for divers and snorkelers. The rays, which have a ‘wing-span’ of two to four feet, swim directly towards the divers, mouths often turned up hoping for a hand held tidbit to be placed near their mouths. Others have learned to swim in circles around the divers, as if performing for food. The docile Nurse Sharks average four to six feet in length and can be a bit more aggressive than the stingrays. The abundance of marine life along the barrier reef is remarkable. It is not usual to see a school of porpoises or turtles. Spotted eagle rays are often seen in groups of three or four, while the rare manta rays usually travel alone. Schools of amber jacks a lone barracudas commonly swim in the open waters away from the corals. Come experience the underwater wonders of Belize. The largest living barrier reef in the world is host to a variety of species including sharks, rays, eels, groupers, parrot fish, trigger fish, sea horses, turtles, shrimp, sea fans, coral and many other wondrous aquatic life.

Glover’s Reef Atoll is the least known and least dove of Belize’s three atolls. The atoll was named after John Glover, a famous pirate who resided here and who used the remote islands as the base for his raids against Spanish galleons heading to and from the Bay Islands of Honduras. Many cannon balls have been found from his battles with the Spanish fleets. At least 4 sunken ships are located in this area.  Although the least known, Glover’s is the atoll that most resembles a “classic” Pacific atoll. There is over 72 miles/ 116KM of reef, many with drop offs starting as shallow as 25 ft/7.5m and continuing down to over 7000ft/2134m, an incredible sight to see. Glover’s is often rated as one of the top 5 dive sites in the world. With an abundant wildlife that includes everything from juvenile spotted drums to manta rays. After diving Glover’s, we’re sure you will agree it is not a site to be missed.

Rising out of the blue from a depth of well over 2,000 feet this well defined oval shaped coral formation surrounds more than 700 patch reefs inside its 100 square mile crystalline lagoon. Of the three atolls Glover’s Reef sees the least amount of human contact and is largely unexplored. Come see for yourself why this atoll was recently designated a National Marine Reserve and, in 1997, a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Belize possesses three of the four atolls found in the Western Hemisphere. The origin of these Atolls: Lighthouse Reef, Glover’s Reef and the Glover Islands are all distinct anomalies in the Caribbean. Nothing else in the Western Hemisphere resembles a true coral atoll. According to geologists they are even more unusual in that the origin of their formation does not seem to mirror the atolls of the Pacific Ocean, where rings of coral are better known.

The ancient processes contributing to Belize atoll development may have begun as many as 70 million years ago and the atolls did not develop around subsiding volcanoes. Instead, they originated atop giant fault blocks; limestone covered ridges that settled in steps, providing a series of offshore platforms for coral growth. After the last ice age, with the slow rise of sea level, coral growth continued upward, creating the precipitous outer walls and the shallow inside lagoon that typifies these distinct formations. Many drop-offs surrounding the Belize atolls are thousands of feet deep, while depths in the shallow lagoons average 10 to 30 feet.