Cephalopodcast - The Ocean Podcast

Flickr photo: Puma over the Blue Hole, Belize, by Smoking Mirrors
Creative Commons license, Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic

Two years ago I got the opportunity to dive the famous Great Blue Hole in Belize. Some of the photos that make up the masthead for this blog were taken during that trip. The Blue Hole is a top destinations on many scuba divers’ life list. It is a geological anomaly located about 50 miles off the coast of Belize, a remnant of a limestone cave system that formed when sea levels were lower. When the ocean returned, the cave roof collapsed, making a near perfect, 1,300 ft circle of deep blue against the turquoise waters of Lighthouse Reef. It is over 400 ft to the floor of the hole, well beyond the safe limits of most divers.

Sadly, 7NEWS in Belize reports that one diver made it nearly all the way to the bottom. The remains were found around 300 ft down and are thought to be that of a doctor from Miami. A team of technical divers made the discovery while filming a documentary. They were not equipped to retrieve the body but recovered the camera of the dead diver. The serial number was traced back and authorities found out it was reported lost seven years ago. They are still figuring out how to proceed.

In hindsight, I was a bit cavalier on my Blue Hole dive. Because it is a deep dive in the middle of a shallow reef, it is easy to take the challenges of the trip for granted. But had anything gone wrong, if I or my buddy lost consciousness, there really would not have been an easy way to recover and we would of ended up keeping company with the doctor.

• 7newsbelize.com: Human Remains Found Inside Blue Hole
• ambergriscaye.com: Human Remains Are 355 Feet Deep Inside Blue Hole
• Flickr, timc74: Diving, Lighthouse Atoll