# Underwater World: Diving in Belize

By [Continuations](https://continuations.com) · 2015-01-04

vacation, scuba, diving

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A couple of years back we got [scuba certified as a family](http://continuations.com/post/39471248577/scuba-certification-and-the-inverted-classroom). This year we took our first real dive trip. We stayed at the amazingly located [Itza Lodge](http://www.itzalodge.com/) on [Long Caye](https://www.google.com/maps/@17.2062495,-87.5966602,15z) which is part of the [Lighthouse Reef](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blue_Hole#mediaviewer/File:Lighthouse_Reef_Belize.jpg) in [Belize](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize). Since we are still learning we did most of our diving right off Long Caye and also at nearby [Half Moon Caye](http://www.belizeaudubon.org/?page_id=3616), which also offers some spectacular bird watching (including [red footed boobies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-footed_booby) and [frigatebirds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigatebird)). We visited the famous [Great Blue Hole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blue_Hole) but went snorkeling there as the dive requires a depth of 130 feet to reach the underwater stalactites.

Scuba diving is what I imagine space travel to be like, clearly shaped by watching too much Star Trek: You get to experience weightlessness (technically [neutral buoyancy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weightlessness#Neutral_buoyancy)) and you encounter species completely unlike anything on earth (meaning dry land). Our most amazing encounter was an [octopus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus) on our first ever night dive. The fluidity of its body – which has no internal or external skeleton – is a stunning sight to behold. We also saw a sea turtle and a list of fish too long for this post (including eagle rays and a decent sized reef shark).

I think it is impossible to go diving and not come away with a renewed (or newfound) sense of awe and a desire to help protect the oceans and especially the [coral reefs](http://continuations.com/post/20777766322/saving-the-oceans-from-acidification). I am looking forward to more excursions under water – and for suggestions for places to do so.

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*Originally published on [Continuations](https://continuations.com/underwater-world-diving-in-belize)*