Hol Chan

 Hol Chan, Mayan for “little channel,” covers 19km2 of coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove forest near San Pedro. Established during the 1990s during a time of increasing tourism and declining fishing industry, the area covers 4 zones which have differing biomes and permitted activities.

Generations of fisherman cleaning their gear while returning to port has created an unexpected gathering place of sharks and stingrays, known locally as Shark Ray Alley, where local tour guides feed the animals as tourists watch from nearby.

Hol Chan Cut is open to the sea beyond the reef, enabling marine creatures to travel between the interior and exterior of the reef. This concentrates wildlife with 160 species of fish, 40 types of coral, and 3 species of sea turtle in addition to numerous rays, lobsters, eels, and anenomes.

San Pedro

Ambergris Caye is the largest island in Belize, running 40m long but only 1.6km wide. Inhabited by the Maya in pre-Columbian times, the island was also popular with 17th century whalers, gradually turning to tourism in the early 1970s. Modern ‘San Pedranos’ are of Mexican descent with some Creole influences and it is said that you are not a true San Pedrano if you don’t know how to fish.

There are a number of settlements and resorts scattered around, but San Pedro Town is the only sizable town with an estimated population of 20,000. The majority of the island is set aside for national parks, further limiting the availability of real estate. The restricted space make car culture non-feasible, with that void being filled by golf carts. Access to the island is easily achieved either by domestic flights or a ferry service from Belize City.

Many of the roads are gravel and in perpetual need of re-grading, so a conventional golf cart won’t do the trick, these are some serious vehicles for a wide-range of conditions.

Steven arranged to borrow a golf cart from a friend in his condo complex and showed us a great time by shuttling us throughout San Pedro. As a trio we fit quickly and easily into our borrowed vehicle to zip from attraction to attraction.

 

 Between the Iguana Sanctuary, feeding tarpon in the marina, Garifuna culture, animal shelter, and the myriad number of restaurants, bars, distilleries, and shops in town we always had somewhere to be going and something different to enjoy.

Mexico Rock

The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300km section of the 900km long Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second largest coral reef system in the world, which Charles Darwin described as “the most remarkable reef in the West Indies” in 1842. With only 10% of the reef properly researched, it is already a recorded home to 100 species of coral and 500 species of fish and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996.

Mexico Rocks is a shallow complex of some 100 clustered patch reefs along a limestone ridge. Popular with both snorkelers and SCUBA divers it was recommended for preservation in 1978 and officially recognized in 2015.

Belize was the first country in the world to completely ban bottom trawling in 2010 and in 2015 banned offshore drilling within 1k of the reef. Despite these measures it suffers the same risks as all reefs and an estimated 40% has already been damaged by human impact.

In addition to environmental damage, much of the reef is also suffering from invasive Lionfish. With a voracious appetite, venomous spines, and no natural predators, these fish are taking a significant toll on local species. Fortunately the people of Belize are actively taking steps to curtail their numbers with bounties for local fisherman and eager offers to take tourists spear fishing with civeche for dinner.