The Belize Barrier Reef System is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. Learn some very interesting Belize Barrier Reef facts that will make you want to visit it.

Belize Barrier Reef is a decorative slideshow

The Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System is located about half a mile from the windward side of the island, where you can find several Belize Barrier Reef resorts. It is the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere and the second longest in the world. East of the Barrier Reef are three separate atoll reefs. A fourth atoll reef called Banco Chinchorro is located north in Mexican waters, and is a favorite among wreck divers.

The three atoll reefs in Belize are formed on two tiers of submarine ridges. There is Glover’s and Turneffe on one ridge and Lighthouse on another ridge farther to the east, this they have the same outlines and NE-SW orientations. Separating the two ridges are deep marine trenches. When you fly south into the country, you will see the reef as a continuous chain of white surf running along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. It continues south almost the whole length of the country to the Sapodilla and Ranguana Cayes.

Inside the reef, the water is shallow with the blue tinge. From the outside, it is deep, while it is a dark royal blue from the air. During very clear days, the reef looks like a shallow line that divides the two shades of two. It is only near Ambergris Caye that the reef runs very close to a well-populated caye. Here, you will see an almost solid wall of stunning coral formation that is only broken by narrow channels called quebradas. Observant divers can be entertained for hours by the wide variety, colors and shapes of the tropical coral.

However, the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System is more than just a decorative slideshow. It serves as a natural break-water that protects the beach from erosion by the waves, sheltering the caye and its inhabitants. The shallow and clear water inside the reef allows for excellent viewing of the stunning marine life. Delicate sea fans, majestic coral gardens and rainbow-tinged tropical fish are abound. Outside the reef, the seabed sharply drops in a series of plateaus of varying depths. Here, game fishes are found, like marlin, sailfish, wahoo, tina, mackerel and king fish.

Even though it looks like dead stone, the reef is actually a living wall formed by millions of coral organisms. These corals are carnivorous, called polyps, and eat small creatures that float by, capturing them using their stinging tentacles. However, they only feed at night and they pull their tentacles back into their skeleton during the day. Living in the reef skeleton are minute blue green algae that give off oxygen which the coral polyps breathe. In turn, the algae absorbs the carbon dioxide that the polyps give off, forming a symbiotic relationship.

Corals come in various colors, everything from orange to red to brown to yellow to green, which you can see in Belize Barrier Reef snorkeling excursions. The soft, living, tube-shaped coral polyp protects itself by forming a hard layer of calcium carbonate around itself, which is called the corallite. Colonies of these polyps create the structure of the coral reef that is growing in exotic and strange shapes that give the different kinds their popular names, like elkhorn coral, staghorn coral and brain coral, among many others.

Here is one Belize Barrier Reef fact: the reef needs two things to survive, chemical nutrients and solar energy. These nutrients flow into the sea and animal and plant organic material from creeks and rivers on the caye and mainland. The organic material is broken down into its chemical derivatives by bacteria and other microorganisms, giving the nutrients needed for reef growth. The warm clear water off the coast of Belize create an excellent environment for the reef, fed by different mainland streams and rivers.

The whole Ambergris island probably resulted from the accumulation of coral fragments along with silt from the Rio Hondo. According to the report of the British Honduras Land Use Survey Team of 1959, ‘the connected chains of coral islands known as Ambergris Caye was formed from the accumulation of coral fragments…first as a shoal patch. These shoals tend to build up in long lines parallel to the coast of the mainland. It is though that their orientation may be connected with marine geological strata rather than being entirely the work of sea currents.

Ambergris Caye heavily relies on boars for transportation for around the island and inter-island travel, as well as mainland travel and cargo transportation and tourism. If you are looking to experience Belize Barrier Reef snorkeling and all the other exciting things that Ambergris Caye can offer, contact your travel agent now for affordable Belize travel packages.