The Great Blue Hole

Great Blue Hole - one of the geological wonders of the Yucatan Peninsula near (Belize State territory in Central America), which is a circular crater with a diameter of 305 m and 120 m in depth. The best views of the open pit from height. Pictures taken from a helicopter, clearly visible boundary of dark and light in the water, the transparency which allows you to see one of the longest in the world of coral reefs - Atoll Lighthouse Reef, part of the Belize Barrier Reef.

It is assumed that the geological formation initially is a system of limestone caves that were formed during the last ice age. The sea level was much lower then, but when the ocean rose and submerged arch of the cave collapsed, formed sinkhole - a fairly common form of relief along the coast of Belize.

There is also a version that the Blue Hole of Belize - a huge vessel in which the ancients something stored. In favor of this view is the fact that the hole wall smooth enough for the casual education. In three-dimensional space can be represented as a large cylinder, representing a reservoir.

However explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, through which Blue Hole has become world famous, he has denied the fact that the wall could be built by man. In 1972, on his ship "Calypso", he conducted studies hole, measured its depth and eventually confirmed the theory of its natural formation. Going down to single submarines into the hole, the expedition discovered a massive stalactites, some of which are located at an angle of 10 ° -13 ° to the vertical, indicating geological shift and the slope of the plateau lying below.

Blue Hole - a popular place among the top ten best dive sites in the world. It can be reached by a boat or a motor boat Belize capital (the distance from the town 96 km away). This place attracts adventurers underwater caves with strange stalactites and stalagmites huge. At a depth of about 70 m in the west of the cup is the entrance to a cave filled with water. These caves are connected to each other by narrow passages. In one of the caves skeletons of three people were found - it is likely to get lost divers, who were unable to find a way out of the caves.

But usually divers dive is not more than 30 m - is due to the fact that insufficient oxygen at the depth and therefore the life thriving only towards the surface. Divers might come across some interesting fish species, including the giant grouper, shark-nannies and several types of reef sharks such as the Caribbean reef shark.

Photos taken by the diver RobynJChan in Great Blue Hole in the zone adjacent reefs: