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Hol Chan Marine ReserveOutdoor activities

Our most recommended Hol Chan Marine Reserve Outdoor activities

Caye Caulker: 7-Stop Snorkeling in the Belize Barrier Reef

1. Caye Caulker: 7-Stop Snorkeling in the Belize Barrier Reef

Snorkel at the Hol Chan marine reserve and at Ray Alley, the second largest coral reef system in the world, on this day trip from Caye Caulker. Ride in a comfortable speedboat and use high-quality snorkeling equipment. Enjoy a delicious lunch with drinks and get GoPro photos and videos.  Meet your group at 9:00 AM at the local partner's office located on Caye Caulker. Get geared up, listen to a quick briefing on what to do and not to do to ensure the day is fun-filled and safe. Embark on a cruise to the Belize Barrier Reef. Hop in the water to look for wildlife like turtles where the world’s largest population of West Indian manatees live. See corals that have been protected for over 30 years at the Hol Chan marine reserve. Feel the thrill of diving with sharks in the Ray Alley. Stop for lunch onboard at 12:00 PM. After that, take the chance to explore an amazing shipwreck, coral gardens, and more turtles. The tour ends at 3:00 PM with two bonus sightseeing stops to see seahorses.

Caye Caulker: Hol Chan Marine Reserve Small-Group Tour

2. Caye Caulker: Hol Chan Marine Reserve Small-Group Tour

Discover the wide variety of lush marine life in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Get your heart racing by snorkeling with sharks and stingrays on the second-largest barrier reef in the world. Receive GoPro pictures after your tour to relive your experience with friends and family. Meet your group at the meeting point on Caye Caulker island, then take a 30-minute boat ride along the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Hol Chan has been a marine reserve since May 2, 1987, and covers almost 7 square miles (18 square kilometers). Some areas are only about 5 feet (around 1.5 meters) deep, while the channel is about 30 feet (just over 9 meters) deep. Once at the reserve, choose whether to observe the abundant marine life from the boat or take the adrenaline rush of jumping in and exploring the amazing underwater world. If snorkeling, keep on the lookout for brain coral, star coral, sharks, stingrays, turtles, pufferfish, eels, parrotfish, angel fish, barracuda, and even the seasonal manatee. Spend around 45 minutes exploring the vast variety of fish species at the first site. Follow this with the opportunity to snorkel with sharks and stingrays in Shark Ray Alley, then enjoy snorkeling with the majestic sea turtle. At the end of the tour, head back to the peaceful island of Caye Caulker where you began.

Caye Caulker: Hol-Chan Snorkeling & San Pedro Tour w/ Lunch

3. Caye Caulker: Hol-Chan Snorkeling & San Pedro Tour w/ Lunch

Hol-Chan, one of Belize’s most beautiful and oldest marine reserves, is located off the southern tip of Ambergris Caye. View the coral reef, seagrass beds, and Shark Ray Alley.  Hol-Chan is the oldest Marine Reserve in Belize and has gained a reputation for its variety of marine life and coral beauty. Experience four epic snorkel stops with a visit to the neighboring island of Ambergris Caye, where you can enjoy a group lunch at a local beachfront restaurant. Snorkel in the Hol-Chan Reserve, then stop for lunch in San Pedro Town, continue to Sting Ray Alley, followed by a snorkel stop to “the wreck,” weather permitting, and end with a snorkel in the Coral Gardens. Enjoy the unique opportunity to snorkel alongside a large variety of tropical fish, sea turtles, sharks, sting rays, and maybe even manatees, depending on the time of year. The sea life is abundant with rich and colorful coral, one of Belize's most prideful offerings.

Caye Caulker: Hol Chan Marine Reserve 7-Stop Snorkeling Tour

4. Caye Caulker: Hol Chan Marine Reserve 7-Stop Snorkeling Tour

Join a speedboat day trip from Caye Caulker and snorkel at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Ray Alley, the second-largest coral reef system in the world. Enjoy high-quality snorkeling equipment, lunch with drinks, and GoPro photos and videos. After meeting your group, get geared up and listen to a short briefing on what to do and what not to do to ensure the day is fun-filled and safe. Then hop on the speedboat andenjoy a 20-minute ride to the Belize Barrier Reef.  Hop in the water to look for wildlife like fish, sea turtles, stingrays, and nurse sharks in an area where the world’s largest population of West Indian manatees live. Seecorals that have been protected for over 30 years at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. After Belize Barrier Reef, swim stops in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve include Tarpon, Chatos Place, Coral Gardens, a sunken shipwreck, Shark Ray Alley, and a stop to search for manatees. In between the cruise, enjoy lunch and drinks onboard.

local scuba night dive

5. local scuba night dive

The night dive at Hol Chan Marine Reserve a bucket list dive and after the sun goes down this amazing cut in the reef teams with life. From tons of different fish, octopus, turtles, moray eels, sting rays, eagle rays and an occasional couple of crabs fighting over a new conch shell home. It is a 45 to 60 minute dive with the bottom depth of 30 feet. At the end of the dive sit in the sea grass turn your torch off , swim your arms to stir up the bioluminescence light show, you won't want to leave! Island Divers Belize is an Authorized 5 Star PADI Dive Center and the premier scuba dive operation in Belize. The Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System lies about half a mile off the west side of the island. It is the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere and the second longest in the world. Some of the best diving in Belize is just 5-20 minutes from the Island Divers Belize shop. The amazing coral reef system not only protects our island, but is host to over two dozen dive sites just outside our door. Our waters are known for seeing nurse sharks, grouper, moray eels, dolphins and sea turtles. You will also see many different species of fish, coral and sponges. The sea floor of the reef are known as sloping finger canyons that are home to everything you’ll want to see when diving. After he dive, Belize Island Divers can wash and store your gear and we will return you to the same location we picked you up at.

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Frequently asked questions about Hol Chan Marine Reserve Outdoor activities

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Other Sightseeing Options in Hol Chan Marine Reserve

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What people are saying about Hol Chan Marine Reserve

Amazing trip! Highly recommend. Renee and Adiva were amazing guides! They were funny, knowledgeable and you could tell they were having a blast and loved the ocean. They knew so much about the ocean, the reefs and all of the animals we saw. They worked super hard to make sure we saw everything - manatees, eagle rays, turtles, beautiful corals and fish and even dolphins at the end of the day. Loved how much variety there was on the trips and the different snorkel stops. Icing on the cake was that someone on the boat lost their phone in the ocean and Renee went out of his way, diving back at multiple stops to try to find it. Amazing guy! They also gave us great recommendations for things to do in caye caulker. Great trip!

Absolutely fantastic experience, the guides were great, I am not a strong swimmer so I was nervous but it was much easier than I expected I’m so glad I still went. Sea turtles were the highlight!! Beautiful.

We had a great day out on the water. We were the only ones that showed up for our trip and the guides called around and got us on a trip with Anwar snorkeling. Our guides were fabulous, highly recommend.

The tour was fantastic, I went with my brother and we got to see turtles, lobster, octopus, sharks, all kinds of coral and smaller fish, dolphins and manatees, highly reccomend!

Rene and Adivina were the guides on our boat and they were great. They were very knowledgeable about the sea life and made sure we saw all the main sights on our trip