Lighthouse Reef - Belize
March 15-22, 2025
Belize: Lighthouse Reef Atoll
This is a unique trip to Belize - this is not like any other trip to Belize. Your guide, Ken Charnock, has been to Belize over a dozen times. This is not just another dive excursion; it’s an opportunity to learn and make a difference in our efforts to save our Oceans!
Click the register button below to get more info on this Eco Trip.
Step into the world of Itza Resort, your gateway to an exclusive dive haven nestled amidst the captivating beauty of Lighthouse Reef Atoll. Here, you’ll find not just a beachfront paradise but an enchanting island retreat.
Prepare for a scuba diving experience like no other, exploring world-class dive sites that include the legendary Belize Blue Hole and the pristine Halfmoon Caye. What sets us apart? Most of these extraordinary dive spots are a mere stone’s throw away from our beachfront resort, ensuring you spend less time on a boat and more time immersed in the underwater wonders.
Beyond the depths, you can embark on snorkeling adventures among swallows and vibrant patch reefs.
At Itza Resort, we proudly stand as one of Belize’s premier diving destinations, offering you the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the splendor of untouched Belize. Our eco-resort harmoniously blends a profound reverence for nature with our unwavering commitment to sharing the unspoiled beauty of this remarkable region.
Experience the Life of a Diver
Belize’s world-class dive sites of Lighthouse Reef Atoll are just minutes from Long Caye! Dives include the world-famous Great Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye, the Aquarium, Que Brada, Silver Caves, and the Cathedral.
Dive into the Blue with us!!
Lighthouse Reef Atoll offers the most remote, pristine coral ecosystems in the Americas, as it’s located on the Mesoamerican Reef — the second-largest barrier reef in the world — and is one of only four atolls in the Western Hemisphere.
Warm waters, calm conditions and 50- to 100-foot vis draws thousands of divers from across the world to this corner of Belize, but because you’re staying right in the heart of the atoll, you often get the sites all to yourself. Itza’s boat is the first one out in the morning to many spots, including the famous Great Blue Hole, which is only 15 minutes away. That’s one of the best things about Itza: The best diving in Belize is only a short boat ride away — so short, in fact, that you return to the resort for each surface interval.
The Lighthouse Reef Atoll, approximately 50 miles east off the coast of Belize City, is one of only four atolls in the Western hemisphere. Equivalent to a large saltwater lake surrounded by a ring of coral in the middle of the Caribbean, the Lighthouse Reef Atoll is 27 miles in length and about eight miles wide.
With its unique variety of marine life in such an untouched state, Lighthouse Reef Atoll is one of the largest and most impressive examples of an atoll coral reef ecosystem. Scuba diving here attracts people from all over the world.
They come to dive into this magnificent underwater paradise and explore its magnificent marine ecosystem that extends for miles. Within the atoll and a few minutes away from Itza Resort are two UNESCO World Heritage sites, Half Moon Caye Bird Sanctuary and Belize’s most famous diving spot, the Great Blue Hole.
With such a wide variety of dive sites in the area, it can be hard to narrow down where to spend your dive time. To make it easy, leave the site choice up to Itza’s knowledgeable divemasters. Simply tell them what you want — walls, drop-offs, drifts, reefs, you name it — and they’ll pick the perfect site to suit your desires, ensuring that no matter your skill level or experience, your dives will be enjoyable. Don’t forget to schedule a night dive to see Belize’s incredible underwater world after the sunsets.
Dive Experience:
Open Water Diver Certification minimum requirement (Nitrox, AOW, Deep Diver recommended)
Trip Includes:
7 nights lodging (double occupancy)
Meals (3 meals a day)
12 boat dives; snorkeling; tanks/weights
Airport transfers; boat transfers to the island
Taxes/fees
Bonus: Marine Ecology certification course (included)
We will have multiple discussions and open learning sessions throughout this trip on Marine Ecology, Conservations, and Sustainability!
Not Included:
Flights (to/from Belize)
Tips for Dive Crew
Trip Fee: $2,499 per diver (double occupancy); single rates are available
Deposit: $1,000 to register (balance due Jan. 15, 2025) - Note: travel payments should be cash, check or Zelle (credit card is +3%)
Lighthouse Reef - Atoll
Ecology and Conservation:
Long Caye at Lighthouse Reef is passionately committed to the preservation and protection of both Long Caye and its surrounding reef. As stewards of the atoll, we are a socially and fiscally responsible organization and we maintain our ecological standards and principals.
We seek to demonstrate to the world the achievements possible when people, passion and technology team up with nature to create an extraordinary user experience and a sustainable success.
Our core philosophy has been based on a belief that to achieve sustainability, it is critical and necessary to build conservation planning into development and economic planning, while also being aware of social goals. Without preserving the environmental asset, economic stability goals cannot be reached, and without economic development and dedication to social goals, conservation cannot be achieved.
We are collaborative at the core. Multiple institutions (from Belize and abroad) have and will participate in basic, focused and ongoing climate change related research at the facility built on Long Caye, Lighthouse Reef. Through our presence and research activity, we hope to guide sustainable human activity for the entire atoll.
Conservation & Culture
All of Long Caye is essentially a preserve. Stewardship of the surrounding environment is a core value for us.
We take a long term, holistic approach to building community on Long Caye, through the mindful, yet aggressive, adoption of leading edge environmentally friendly technologies. We seek to demonstrate to the world the achievements possible when people, passion and technology team up with nature to create an extraordinary living and visiting experience. Our Conservation Ethos is enacted in perpetuity by the Eco-Guidelines – and they ensure that Long Caye will be here for future generations. As stewards of the atoll, we will not sacrifice our ecological standards or compromise our principals.
Half-moon Caye is regarded as the ultimate snorkeling destination. Located on Lighthouse Reef Atoll and established as the country’s oldest protected wild sanctuary, set up to protect the red footed booby birds. You will find amazingly clear waters to snorkeling, Wall diving and a beautiful island for those Instagram or Facebook moments.
Great for both diving and snorkeling, here you will an abundance of marine life. Loggerhead turtle, Barracuda, snappers, rays and occasionally and eels or town. Go birdwatching, follow the footpath to the observation deck and get a first-hand look at a red footed Booby bird. Try and spot the Belize leaf-toed gecko ,only found on small islands off Belize’s coast. They have been recorded of both this island and Long Caye where you will find a resort closest to Half Moon Caye.
Half Moon Caye National Monument together with the Belize Great Blue Hole a UNESCO world heritage site, makes Lighthouse reef a heaven for those looking for unmatched snorkeling or diving experience. The atoll boast various species of fish, sharks, which swim along the atoll reef, 3 species of nesting turtles. At times migrating whales can be spotted near to dive site close to the island. Explore and see the many type of crustaceans that inhabits the corals lying just offshore.
