Great Blue Hole in the ocean. Belize

The Great Blue Hole is one of the geological wonders near the Yucatan Peninsula (territory of the state of Belize in Central America), which is a round funnel with a diameter of 305 m and 120 m in depth. The most best views this pit is opened from a height. The photographs taken from a helicopter clearly show the border between dark and light water, the transparency of which allows one to see one of the longest coral reefs on the planet - Lighthouse Reef Atoll, which is part of the Belize Barrier Reef.

It is assumed that this geological formation was originally a system of limestone caves formed during the last ice age. The sea level was then much lower, but when the ocean rose and the roof of the flooded cave collapsed, a sinkhole was formed - a fairly common landform along the coast of Belize.

There was also a version that Blue hole Belize is a huge vessel in which the ancients kept something. This point of view was supported by the fact that the walls of the hole were smooth enough for accidental formation. In three-dimensional space it can be represented as a large cylinder, representing a kind of reservoir.

However, the explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, thanks to whom the Blue Hole became world famous, denied the fact that the walls could have been built by man. In 1972, on his ship Calypso, he conducted research on the hole, measured its depth and ultimately confirmed the theory of its natural formation. Having descended into the hole in one-man submarines, the expedition members discovered massive stalactites, some of which were located at an angle of 10°-13° to the vertical, indicating a geological shift and tilt of the underlying plateau.

The Great Blue Hole is considered the largest among similar karst pits and therefore was included in the UNESCO list world heritage.

The Blue Hole is the most popular place, one of the top ten best places for diving in the world. You can get here from the capital of Belize by speedboat or motor boat (distance from the city is 96 km). This place attracts adventurers with underwater caves with strange stalactites and stalagmites of enormous size. At a depth of about 70 m in the west of the bowl there are entrances to caves filled with water. These caves are connected to each other by narrow passages. In one of the caves, the skeletons of 3 people were found - these were most likely lost divers who could not find a way out of the caves.

But, as a rule, divers dive no more than 30 m - this is due to the fact that there is not enough oxygen at depth and therefore life flourishes only closer to the surface. Divers may encounter several interesting species fish including giant grouper, nurse sharks and several species of reef sharks such as the Caribbean reef shark.

Nature is the world's best artist and creator! And today we will talk about one of the most amazing phenomena in the world - blue holes.

What is a blue hole

It turns out that there are a lot of “blue holes” on earth. This is the name given to wells formed in the ocean or sea. They are characterized by great depth and the presence of underwater caves (which, as a rule, are interconnected). This is very interesting phenomenon, the blue hole, for example, has made the Bahamas so popular among divers around the world.

Why “blue”?

This name comes from an analogy with “black” cosmic holes. Black holes are scattered throughout outer space, and blue holes are scattered throughout the world's oceans. In addition, in the photo they are blue.

Where can you find them?

Blue holes can be found:

• in the Bahamas;
• in Egypt;
• in Malta;
• in the Bahamas;
• in Belize, etc.

The term is often used to define underwater wells that are filled with water. The entrance to them is located below the surface of the water. Blue holes appeared as a result of karst processes. Under the influence of rainwater flows, cracks in the limestone rock were washed out. And during the Ice Age, sea levels rose and the cracks were submerged in water.

Let's see what a blue hole is in the photo!

A series of photographs will help you better imagine what a blue hole is! We look and are surprised...

Great Blue Hole, Belize

Blue Hole Bahamas

Dean's Bahamas Blue Hole in the Bahamas is one of the deepest sinkholes in the underwater world. We will highlight it separately!

Just think - its depth reaches 663 meters!

This place is considered ideal for free diving.

The blue hole has a circular base with a diameter of 25-35 meters.

After descending 20 meters, you find yourself in a cave with a diameter of approximately 100 meters and a depth of 133 meters.

Its length is as much as 700 meters.

The cave has 2 entrances. One of them is located between the stones right in the jungle at a distance of 425 meters from the main one. It is called the "lonely barracuda".

The beauty seen is simply breathtaking!

Here are a couple more photos!

And other blue holes in the ocean

Blue Hole on the island of Gozo

In this article we will talk about the so-called blue holes, which are underwater vertical caves that go down to great depths. From a bird's eye view, such caves most closely resemble dark blue and sometimes almost black holes in the water.

On this moment There are several dozen similar caves known, but the most famous of them are Great Blue Hole ( Great Blue Hole), located in the center of the atoll known as Lighthouse Reef (Belize), and Blue hole ( Blue Hole) , located near Dahab, Egypt.

The Great Blue Hole became widely known after the research of Jacques Cousteau and his team. It was Cousteau who first explored this underwater cave, the ceiling of which collapsed several thousand years ago. The diameter of the blue hole is about 300 meters, and the depth of the cave reaches almost 120 meters. Due to its size, this blue hole is considered the largest in the world and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Great Blue Hole was formed more than 10 thousand years ago, at a time when sea levels were much lower. Soon the ocean began to rise and the cave was flooded. Its ceiling could not withstand the water pressure and collapsed...

Today this place is incredibly popular among divers. Jacques Cousteau, while studying the cave, made several notes of the places where, in his opinion, it is best to dive. You can get to the Great Blue Hole either by boat or motorboat, or by signing up for one of the many tours.

Visiting the Great Blue Hole is interesting in itself, but you will get the most vivid impressions from diving into its depths. Divers dive to a depth of 30-40 meters, where they can fully enjoy all the beauties of the underwater world. Colorful exotic fish scurrying here and there, and the most beautiful underwater landscapes - all this awaits you at the bottom of the Great Blue Hole.

Many inexperienced divers underestimated the complexity of the underwater route, and this led to dire consequences...

Not far from the popular tourist resort of Dahab, located in Egypt, in the Red Sea there is another unique underwater vertical cave, the Blue Hole. This vibrant natural attraction of the Egyptian coast attracts divers from many parts of our planet like a magnet.

At first glance, the traditional route, consisting of diving in coastal waters and moving at a relatively shallow depth along coral reef, does not pose any particular danger even to amateur divers. But this impression is deceptive, because the water corridor of the Blue Cave is longer than it appears visually.

Often, inexperienced divers dive irresponsibly in the Blue Cave, using only one oxygen tank, thereby putting their lives in danger.

In memory of the people who died in this underwater cave, a memorial was erected on the coast; they stopped installing signs on it displaying the names of the dead, so as not to scare off vacationers.

I would also like to mention those divers who managed to overcome the Blue Cave without scuba gear in one breath. This list of daredevils includes the Austrian Herbert Nietzsch, Bivin from South Africa, as well as the Russian woman Natalya Molchanova and her son Alexei. And Canadian William Trubridge managed to overcome this distance even without a wetsuit and fins and became the first person on Earth to overcome a depth of 100 meters without assistance.

As for the named cave, it received it because of its amazing heavenly color, alluring beauty. But local residents They don’t risk swimming in this place, they call it damned.

There is even a legend about this, according to which a long time ago the sheikh ordered his daughter to be drowned here, because he learned that during his absence, the daughter had been debauched and drowned her lovers, thus hiding the connections that discredited her. Before her death, the sheikh’s daughter said that she would take to the seabed everyone who dared to swim into the Blue Cave. But these mystical legends do not frighten scuba diving enthusiasts; every year thousands of divers conquer these dangerous depths.

French freedriver and world champion Guillaume Nery broke all existing records and reached the bottom of Dean's Blue Hole without the help of fins or scuba gear. Having sunk to the bottom, Neri rose to the surface by “free climbing”.
This video was filmed by professional diver Julie Gauthier, who also did not use any oxygen devices, but was wearing fins.

Blue holes, which are actually underwater vertical caves that go several tens or even hundreds of meters deep, are a fairly common natural phenomenon. Similar caves are found near the coasts of Egypt, Australia, Guam and the Bahamas, but the most famous is in the Caribbean Sea. Big blue hole(English) Great Blue Hole ) - a large hole located in the center Refa Mayak(English) Lighthouse Reef ), an atoll within Belize Barrier Reef, covering an area of 809 km 2. It stretches solid 280 - a kilometer-long wall along the coast of Belize in the distance 13 - 24 km from it and is almost untouched undersea world. The sea bed between the reef and the mainland is flat and sandy, only in some places it rises to the surface, forming low islands covered with mangroves. To the east, where the sea bed drops sharply, there are three separate atolls: islets Turneffe, Glovers Reef and the above Lighthouse Reef. The hole is a round karst funnel with a diameter 305 meters, going to a depth 120 meters.

However, the Great Blue Hole is not the deepest karstfunnel of this type. This statusbelongs to another cave - the blue hole Dina, whose bottom is located at the level 205 meters under water. It's not that far away - it's close Bahamian island Long Island. But if you take into account overall volume, The Great Blue Hole actually takes first place, which is why it got its name. It is noteworthy that in 1997 I have been researching blue holes for years Fund Cambria. Their equipment showed slightly different data. The depth of the cave was 124 meters. Actually, the difference is not so great, it is less than one percent, so it can be attributed to various types of errors. In addition, the goal of the expedition undertaken by the Cambrian Foundation was not to identify the size of the blue hole, but to document its system of underwater caves, as well as collect core samples that would allow us to determine the chemical composition of the underwater environment.

This amazing sinkhole opens onto magnificent bird's eye view. The Big Blue Hole is a magnificent landscape - turquoise and azure, the transparency of which can make your head spin, and in the center there is a dark round spot that catches the observer’s eye and seems to draw him into the very deep abyss. Its color is due to the high transparency of the water and the snow-white carbonate sand lying at the bottom of the cave. The fact is that blue has a fairly long wavelength compared to other parts of the light spectrum. Therefore, while red, yellow and green are absorbed as they pass through the water, blue has time to reach the bottom of the sinkhole and be reflected from it. Therefore, the cave itself stands out sharply against the background of the azure seabed.

Belize's Blue Hole is considered the largest of its kind and is therefore listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Belize's famous blue hole is also included in the list of "Most big holes in the Earth”, where it is located in 5th place in size. But, if the rest of the holes were formed not without human help (mostly the list includes ore mining and one failure of the earth’s soil, also caused by human factors), then the Great Blue Hole in Belize, according to scientists, was formed naturally.

Like a blue hole she ended up on the list anomalous places planets, you ask? After all, no monsters like Loch Ness live in it, ships do not sink or disappear. Only occasionally do UFOs appear in the sight of tourists, but this does not happen often. Everything is very simple. Despite the assurances of most scientists, the natural origin of this hole is questionable. An even circle and an even more amazing shape inside - all this evokes thoughts about the man-made nature of this object. But about this in order, and we will begin our story with the official version.

Origin of the Great Blue Hole

Blue holes are underwater vertical caves that go deep and resemble large holes from above. This geological formation was originally a system of limestone caves formed during the last ice age. According to research conducted by scientists, and subsequently data from analyzes of stalactites in the cave, it turned out that the Great Blue Hole was formed in several stages during the Pleistocene glaciation, when the water level of the world's oceans was much lower. The first stage took place approximately 153 000 years ago, second - 66 000 years ago, third - 60 000 and the fourth - 15 000 years ago. Gradually, the glaciers melted, the water level rose, as a result of which the pressure increased and the walls of the cave collapsed more and more. As a result, a large karst funnel was formed, by the way, a phenomenon quite typical for of this region. And once upon a time, around the end of the Middle Pleistocene, the Great Blue Hole was an ordinary limestone cave that was not even flooded with water.

This scientific theory was put forward quite a long time ago, but in reality only the famous French explorer, navigator and photographer could prove it Jacques Cousteau. The Blue Hole became famous thanks to him, because Cousteau included it in the list of the 10 best places in the world for diving. IN 1972 year on his famous research vessel "Calypso", he went to the blue hole on Lighthouse Reef to plot routes. There were two popular rumors that arose regarding Commander Cousteau's visit to the hole. The first was a rumor that Cousteau was using explosives to blow up a path through the atoll to reach the blue hole. This is, of course, not true. Second, the rumor is that Philippe Cousteau died in the blue hole during that trip. And this has nothing to do with reality. Philip died in Portugal a few years later.

Cousteau was the first to measure the depth of the hole and confirm the theory of its formation. With the help of special equipment, we managed to descend to the very bottom of the cave. Typical limestone karst formations were found there, located at levels of 21, 49 and 91 meters, in addition, stalactites were also recovered from the underwater cave, which confirmed that the formation of the Great Blue Hole occurred in several stages. The expedition members discovered massive stalactites, some of which were located at an angle 10°-13° to the vertical. This meant that during the last 150,000 years there had been a geological shift and tilt of the main tectonic platform, establishing it in its present state.

There is a version that the Great Blue Hole is a huge vessel in which the ancients kept something. This point of view was supported by the fact that the walls of the hole were smooth enough for accidental formation. In three-dimensional space it can be represented as a large cylinder, representing a kind of reservoir.

The Great Blue Hole is also called the destroyed drainage well. Previously, the cave was in the center of an underground tunnel complex, the ceiling of which had collapsed. Some of the tunnels are thought to be connected directly through corridors to the mainland, although this has not been conclusively proven. The mainland itself has many water-filled drainage wells that are connected to caves and tunnels.

One day, many millions of years ago, significant events occurred. First, there was an earthquake, and this probably caused the ceiling of the cave to collapse, forming a drainage well. After which the arch of the Lighthouse Reef tilted approximately 12°. The walls of this cave are richly decorated with projections, stalactites and stalagmites, columns and natural sculptures.
Some of the stalactites are at an angle to the wall, but it is known that they cannot develop at any angle other than perpendicular. In addition, there are stalactites that were formed after earthquakes and other movements. There are also those that were formed before and after the movement of tectonic plates, as a result of which some of the stalactites turned out to be perpendicular to the stalagmites and together they formed a lattice.

Evidence of the gradual change in the level of the world's oceans is the “shelves” and protrusions carved into the limestone by the sea, which are visible along the entire perimeter of the inner circumference of the blue hole at various depths. The first of these ledges is found between 45 - 50 meters and is best visible on the south side. The base of the ledge is completely flat and cuts the rock by about 5 to 6 meters. This creates a narrowing of the cave.

One of the best diving spots

This place attracts adventurers with underwater caves with strange stalactites and stalagmites of enormous size, in addition, the Great Blue Hole is called one of the seven natural wonders of Central America. Despite the inaccessibility of the site, the blue hole is a popular dive site for recreational diving. You can get here from Belize City, the distance is just 96 kilometers, it is easy to overcome by boat or motor boat. Rental services are widely available at the local port. The popularity of the place is also due to its well-developed tourist infrastructure. The islands are located seaside resorts with diving bases, from where divers are transported on special boats to dive sites. Also, more than a dozen different tours, including diving ones, are organized here. In the last forty-odd years, the cave has been the most popular place for diving. In the 70s In the 20th century, divers from all over the world began to come here. Many of them want to challenge the elements by plunging into the vast depths of the sea.

Except for two narrow channels, the hole on the surfacealmost closed. The blue hole itselfis the entrance to a system of caves and passages that go through the seamount. In various places, massive limestone stalactites hang from the cave ceilings. The first of these recesses and underwater corridors begin at a level of 70 meters. In the west of the bowl there are entrances to caves filled with water. These caves are connected to each other by narrow passages. In complete darkness, stalactites, stalagmites and columns exist in a serene world. The bottom is covered with velvety silt, which rises into large clouds at the slightest movement of the fins. In the very far corner another narrow tunnel leads to a second cave leading upward, while another corridor leads finally to a third cave. There is very little marine life in the caves and the walls are completely bare due to the lack of direct sunlight. Here are the skeletal remains of turtles that found their refuge here without finding a way out. The same danger awaits divers. At a depth of 30 meters, the diver must find his way back along the same route. If a diver or even a turtle caused the mud to move, it may never find a way out. troubled waters. For experienced divers whose specialty is cave diving, this is a very useful experience. The deeper the dive, the clearer the water and the more breathtaking the scenery. But we must remember that blue holes do not tolerate arrogance and amateurism. The Big Blue Hole is not tough for everyone. In one of the caves, the skeletons of three people were found - these were most likely lost divers who could not find a way out. The caves can only be conquered by divers with extensive experience and excellent training. But even with such people, caves sometimes manage to play a cruel joke.

Divers dive here to depths of up to 41 meters and explore the underwater world. As a rule, dives are made no deeper than this level, because... There is not enough oxygen at depth and therefore life flourishes only closer to the surface. Descent into the cave is, first of all, a meeting with the distant past, promising many indelible impressions. Divers descend into the blue hole, accompanied by experienced instructors.

The funnel lets in very little sunlight, so you will need a powerful underwater flashlight - not so much to admire the beauty of the cave, but for safety. To brighten the background, photographers are recommended to use film with a sensitivity of 200 units, and videographers will need powerful spotlights.

For all practical purposes, the 120-meter depth makes the blue hole completely unusable. The walls extend from the surface to a depth of approximately 33.5 meters, here throughout the descent you are faced with stalactites that actually “fish” being perpendicular to the walls, and you can dive under monstrous grinning spikes, making your way among them. The acuity of the senses is increased by the dizzying effects of nitrogen. The water in the caves is still and visibility often approaches 60 meters. Very little light reaches the depths of the blue hole, and water does not circulate freely, resulting in virtually no life at depth.

Sheer walls go down; there are protrusions on them, and under them - stalactites, sometimes reaching three meters in length. Large stalactites are piled up in the northwestern part of the blue hole - not far from the northern entrance. The bottom of this channel slopes slightly and is covered with sand and corals. This is also where you should end your dives. The place where they usually start is marked with a buoy - the line from it stretches to the very bottom. Unlike shallow reefs, the walls of the well are smooth and covered with brown and green algae. Even in the brightest sunlight, depths below 30 meters are pitch black. At a depth of 40 meters, ledges begin, hung from below with stalactites - cone-shaped, like giant icicles, and helical, like huge corkscrews. Truly fabulous place! Time passes quickly in the darkness of the abyss, so do not forget to look at your watch - this is very important. The dive ends in the same place where it began - in the northwestern channel with a flat sandy bottom. At a depth of four meters you can admire the fish for some time, although it’s unlikely that anything can compare with the impressions of descending into a blue hole.

Flora and fauna

Divers may encounter several interesting species of fish, including giant grouper, nurse sharks Andseveral types reef sharks, For example Caribbean reef shark. In the coastal waters of Belize, everything is the same as throughout Caribbean Sea, only much brighter and more varied. Once a year, when the mating season begins, countless schools gather in these waters white sea bass - barramundi And threespined sticklebacks; in addition, divers are greeted by good-natured dolphins. The reef zone is completely covered corals And sponges. The circular shape of the reef provides an ideal habitat for the corals to thrive. Corals sometimes break during low tide, but new colonies grow in their place. The outer sides of atoll reefs are sheer walls - faults that go to a kilometer depth. The water temperature on the reefs remains constant almost all year round: in winter it does not drop lower 23-25°С, and in summer it stays between 25 -28°C.

However, in order to appreciate the beauty of the karst funnel, it is not at all necessary to descend to a very great depth. All life in the great blue hole is concentrated close to the surface. Among the inhabitants of Mayak Reef are numerous species of fish, for example, giant perch, hammerhead fish, bull shark And blacktip shark. Meet here and sea ​​turtles. And yet, despite the great depth, some living organisms still live at the bottom of the cave; their diversity is limited to a few species bacteria And fungi.

The article presents photographs of underwater life in The Great Blue Hole and its surrounding reef area, taken by a diver named Robyn J. Chan in May 2010.

There is no whirlpool in the blue hole, you shouldn't be afraid of that, but are there monsters in it?

In the late 60s early 70s. 20th century, diving team K. Kay claimed that they saw a huge transparent snake during the dive. This animal reportedly had red eyes and was a whopping 6 meters long, translucent and eel-like in shape. The divers panicked and made an emergency ascent.

The only fish that would fit this description is the saberfish, however, it only lives in open water, this is exceptional sea ​​fish, and its presence in the blue hole is very unlikely. Since then, the rumors have subsided, and none of the divers have seen the monster in the blue hole.

Conclusion

Although Jacques Cousteau refuted the theory artificial creation this hole by an ancient pre-civilization, how then to explain such an unusual shape of an amphora inside the hole? Let us recall that Jacques Cousteau, having conducted research at the bottom of Lake Titicaca in 1969, similarly refuted the theory of a city at the bottom of the lake, saying that he found nothing there. The site was found by an Italian underwater expedition thirty years later. Today technology is so developed that it allows us, with the help Google maps at maximum magnification, see the outlines of ancient settlements at the bottom of many lakes in South America!

In 1972, such technologies were absent, and made a thorough study of the bottom of the hole impossible, as well as the conclusion made by Zh.I. Cousteau is his personal, subjective point of view. All these conditions give the right to the existence of a version about the deliberate creation of this hole and giving it exactly this shape inside by those who created it. Moreover, the cave system that connects the reservoir to the mainland casts even more doubt on the miraculous nature of this structure. And information about UFOs and the location of the hole not far from Bermuda Triangle only strengthen the opinion that the Great Blue Hole is man-made.

Geological history of the Great Blue Hole

The Belize Barrier Reef occupies almost a third of the 900-kilometer Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second largest in the world after Australia. In its eastern part, with great depths, three atolls are concentrated. In the center of one of them, Lighthouse Reef, lies the Great Blue Hole - its dark blue spot contrasts effectively with the azure waters around it.

During the last ice age, sea levels were lower, and the floor and walls of today's sinkhole were part of a system of above-ground limestone caves. After the ice melted, this part of the atoll went under water, the fragile limestone was washed away, and it collapsed, forming a crater 124-125 m deep. This geological phenomenon is typical for the coast of Belize, but the Great Blue Hole is unique in its size. According to scientists, the process of erosion of the walls and bottom continues, and the depth of the funnel will gradually increase.

Discovery and research of the Great Blue Hole

The giant sinkhole was popularized by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who conducted his research here in 1972. The famous Frenchman confirmed its diameter - 318 meters, and was also for the first time able to name the depth of the Great Blue Hole, taking measurements from his ship Calypso. IN personal rating The cousteau sinkhole with underwater caves has been named one of the ten most attractive dive sites in the world. At the bottom, which the researchers reached in one-man submarines, inclined stalactites were discovered, indicating the direction of plate shift. Cousteau and his associates determined that there were at least 4 stages in the destruction of the caves - this can be seen from the protrusions at depths of 21, 49 and 91 m.

The depression explored by Cousteau's team in 1988 was given a great name by Ned Middleton in his book Ten Years Underwater. He subsequently wrote a guide for divers in Belize, paying attention to the Great Blue Hole as the main natural attraction of the Barrier Reef.

Diving

Athletes from all over the world come to Belize for diving - this is the main thing tourist destination of this small country. More than 130 thousand people dive every year, but not all of them are ready to experience the hardships of descending into the Great Blue Hole. A diver must have at least 24 dives on his record for a local travel agency to organize a trip for him. It is impossible to undertake the trip on your own - divers must be accompanied by experienced guides who correlate the travel time with the tides, when whirlpools form that can swallow not only a person, but also a small vessel. At low tide, it is no less dangerous: the blue hole fountains, spitting out previously captured debris.

Underwater world of the Great Blue Hole

Experts warn that amateurs clear waters with schools of colorful fish scurrying back and forth, it is better to choose other areas of Lighthouse Reef for diving. The main inhabitants of the Great Blue Hole are giant groupers, reaching a length of 2.7 m, nurse sharks and reef sharks, theoretically capable of harming a person, but without provocation they do not attack him; with some luck, you can also find a hammerhead fish. As you dive, marine life disappears, and at a depth of about 45 m, dark caves with dim stalactites begin.

Tourist information

The water temperature off the coast of Belize is comfortable all year round: in summer it is about +26 °C, in winter it is a couple of degrees lower. In the Great Blue Hole, naturally, the indicators are different - depending on the depth, they require the diver to have appropriate equipment and sportswear. The cost of the dive depends on the composition of the group and the hired transport. On average it costs $250. Those who are not experienced in diving can admire the hole from the air by chartering a light aircraft for about $600 per person. The entire excursion will take no more than an hour.

Where to stay

Ambergris Caye is an island with beaches and a mangrove swamp in the center. Mostly divers stay in its hotels, so everything has been created here for their convenience: at every step there are travel agencies specializing in trips to the reefs and shops with specialized equipment. There is no special entertainment on the island, only great beaches, upscale hotels and restaurants. Ocean Tide is popular among tourists Beach Resort with views of the reefs, costing about 6 thousand rubles per night, the more affordable Corona del Mar hotel costs 1000 rubles. cheaper. Renting a villa costs at least 30,000 rubles per day. Cheap hostels starting from 2000 rubles. per night are closer to the center of San Pedro, outside of Ambergris Caye.

How to get there

Foreign tourists usually enter the country through the Belize City Airport, which receives regular flights from Canada, the USA and neighboring Central American countries. From there, guests take a ferry to San Pedro, an hour and a half north. The crossing costs about 40 dollars. From here, from the island of Ambergris Caye, divers are taken to the Great Blue Hole by motor boats or speedboats. San Pedro has its own airport, but it receives mainly local flights and charters from Northern and South America and Western Europe.