Ambergris Caye, Belize- What to Expect

A Strip of mangrove swamp surrounded by beautiful white sand beaches and tranquil turquoise waters forms the beautiful Ambergris Caye. famous for its beautiful village resorts, water sporting opportunities, scuba diving and the typical Carribean vibe, the island is home to the second largest barrier reef in the world: the Belize Barrier Reef famed for dive sites such as the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, with an abundance of sea life, and the 124m-deep Great Blue Hole

Here are a few facts that come in handy while planning your trip to this beautiful city:

1. The Winter Months Last through Dec to March with an average high of 15°C and an average low of  10°C.
2. An Average meal for one person costs about 13.38$ in a non-expensive restaurant.
3. A Pint of Domestic Drought Beer costs about 4.01$ on an average.
4. A Litre of gas Costs 3.45$.
5. The monthly rent of a 1BHK a little off the City Centre is about 556.57$.

Main Attractions:

1. Located at the southern end of Ambergris, the 6.5-sq-mile Hol Chan Marine Reserve is probably Belize’s most oft-visited diving and snorkelling site. It offers magnificent coral formations, plus a rich abundance of marine life – not to mention its proximity to the cays. The channel walls are covered with colourful corals, which sustain an amazing variety of fish life, including moray eels and black groupers.
2. Located at the northern end of Ambergris Caye, Bacalar Chico is a Unesco World Heritage Site with about 41 sq miles of protected land and sea, accessible only via an hour-long boat ride from San Pedro. Upon arrival, visitors check in at the San Juan ranger station, where there is a small museum showcasing Mayan artefacts. the area is home to crocodiles, white-tail deer, ocelots, pumas, and jaguars.
3. Mexico Rocks is a snorkelling site located about 15 minutes from San Pedro and with a unique patch reef clusters towards alongside northern end of the islands that are unique to the Northern Shelf Lagoon. Many small invertebrates inhabit the turtle grass and coral heads, while plentiful fish life including the grouper, snapper, grunts, filefish and more.
4. Four miles south of San Pedro, this part of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve is famous for its dramatic canyons and ample sea life, including eagle rays, stingrays and shoaling schools of fish. The canyons are lined with large coral, which hides black snapper, chubs, schoolmasters and mutton snappers, as well as moray eels and channel crabs. Yellowtails are ubiquitous, but you might also spot tarpon. The dive maxes out at about 70ft.
5. The dive site is a bit deeper than most around San Pedro, with coral heads rising up to 50ft and a wall with spurs that spill out from 90ft to 120ft, but there’s also a shallow snorkelling area nearby. The marine life here is wonderful, with a thick growth of star corals, big plating corals, red rope sponges and soft sea whips, and gorgonians on the upper reaches of the spurs. The place is renowned for shoals of schooling fish, including snapper, horse-eye jack and spotted eagle rays.
6. Due to chumming, Cypress Garden a San Pedro dive site was once a famous spot to observe the nurse sharks and grouper. The feedings have stopped now due to which the said fish have moved grounds elsewhere, but the site remains worthwhile for its pronounced undercuts that provide a habitat to the arrow crabs and shrimps, as well as drums of all sizes. The coral masses here include the flower coral, the thin leaf lettuce coral and some nice stands of the rare pillar coral.
7. Only snorkelling is allowed at the perennially popular Shark Ray Alley which is in a shallow part of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Shark Ray Alley was traditionally a place for local fishers to clean fish, and hence the creatures that get attracted by the fish guts discarded by the farmers. As the name implies, the area is known for the big southern stingrays and mooching nurse sharks that swim right up to the boat.
8. About 1.6 miles south of San Pedro, Tuffy Canyons dive site is marked by deep grooves and a long, narrow tunnel. This high-walled passage leads to an opening at 80ft to 90ft onto the reef drop-off. Look for some attractive sponges in the deeper reaches, and the occasional eagle ray or dolphin pod passing by. Marauding nurse sharks hang around the entire dive.