I've just returned from a seven-day cruise aboard the Sun Dancer II and along with memories of a fantastic dive trip, I brought back a whole new appreciation for the quality of diving in Belize. As you may already know, Belize is home to the world's second largest barrier reef, a massive Blue Hole and three of the only four true coral atolls found in the hemisphere.

Sun Dancer II specializes in the best diving the country has to offer, the walls of Lighthouse Reef Atoll, the outermost reef in Belize. We've had a live-aboard in Belize since February 1992, and each time I dive here I'm impressed by the diversity of the diving. Take the first dive we did this week at Half Moon Caye Wall for instance. It began with a deep plunge over the wall where some of our divers had an encounter with a beautiful, ever graceful Spotted Eagle Ray, and I was privileged to be escorted by two curious & very "healthy" Caribbean Reef Sharks for much of the dive, along with all the other usual cast of characters found in this area - schooling (large) Tarpon, a school of Permit, a huge school of Horse Eyed Jacks and the ever present Bermuda Chubs, several large Black Grouper as well as Yellow Fin Grouper and even the now endangered (and protected) Nassau Grouper and a very large Great Barracuda and this is just the "obvious!" The wall itself was as beautiful as ever, decorated with large Barrel Sponges, colorful Tube Sponges, big deepwater Gorgonians and Black Coral Trees sprouting off the vertical surface.

Coming shallow, we passed through the coral crevices cut into the lip of the wall, swimming through thick schools of Creole Wrasse. Along the top of the wall, white sand channels reflect the ambient light and the entire reef is bathed in brilliant color. The coral heads are swarmed by colorful small reef fish like Fairy Basslets with the Black Cap Basslets found deeper, Blue & Brown Chromis and a variety of Parrot Fish & Angel Fish and Wrasse species of virtually every shape, color & size making this a fish watcher's dream come true - and we have not even touched upon the Lobsters, Turtles, huge Clinger (aka Spider) Crabs or the tiny Peterson Cleaner Shrimp, the Banded Coral Shrimp & the Pistol Shrimp to mention but a few of the smaller cast of characters that is the "norm" while diving in Belize!

Working your way into the sand flats is a great way to let off a little excess nitrogen while you enjoy the Caribbean equivalent of "muck diving," scouring the clear white sand for the beautiful Yellow-Headed Jawfish and the scattered coral heads for shy Sailfin Blennies. In the grass beds, your guides can lead you to the tiny, elusive Pipefish and the exceedingly rare Pipehorses that call Belize home. Experts at camouflage, the tiny Pipefish - about the length of your pinkie and no bigger around than a pencil lead - can be found floating vertically in the sea grass stalks - hiding in plain sight. They are hard to spot, but once our guides point them out, you'll know what to look for and can find them yourself. If you're lucky, you'll also find a Pipehorse or two - we saw six in all throughout our week's worth of diving on a couple of different dive sites. At no bigger than 3 inches in length, they look like a cross between a Pipefish and Seahorse, and are usually found with their tails curled around a sea grass stalk, swaying in the current. Underwater photographers: Don't forget the macro lens!

We were fortunate this week to be joined my friend Lad Akins, special projects director for the Reef Environmental Education Foundations (REEF). Lad is spearheading the effort to study (and ultimately stop) the spread of the Red Lionfish in the Tropical Western Atlantic and Caribbean. Native to the reefs of the Indo-Pacific, Red Lionfish are ornate ambush predators that eat other fish and crustaceans. They are also armed with 13 venomous dorsal spines that are as sharp as hypodermic needles and can inflict a painful (but not deadly) sting. Accidentally introduced to the Atlantic, the Red Lionfish has become the first successful invasive species to gain a foothold in the region, reproducing and expanding their range. They have no known predators in the Atlantic or Caribbean and marine researchers fear that with their voracious appetites (Red Lionfish will eat almost anything that will fit into their mouths , up to 45% of their own body size and their stomachs can expand to 30 times normal size) they will wipe out the small reef fish that are the base of the native ecosystems. Since first being spotted off Florida in the late 1990s, the fish have spread rapidly to Bermuda, up the east coast of the USA, the Florida Keys, the Bahama Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cuba, Mexico, the Cayman Islands, the Virgin Islands among a number of ever increasing destinations. Here in Belize, only 10 Lionfish have been spotted to date with nine of those having been successfully removed from the sea, but it's important to be prepared in case their numbers grow. Lad filled us in on the latest information on the spread of the Lionfish and trained our crew in safe Lionfish collection techniques, so if more arrive we can catch them, protect the native reef fish species and assist with the ongoing research. Joining Lad on this cruise were several members of REEF, who spent the week surveying the native fish species of Belize to provide important baseline data. It was an informative cruise for all and the crew of Sun Dancer II are dedicated to doing their part to address the Lionfish issue.

Lad is also an expert at fish ID and throughout the week gave all onboard tips and techniques for finding and identifying the diverse and abundant fish populations found on the reefs of Belize. He also helped us find a number of rare species, including the elusive Cherubfish (along with the Flameback Angel Fish the smallest of the Angel Fish family) and even the rare Yellow (aka Spot Fin) Jawfish - a species that fish experts weren't sure was found in Belize.

Speaking of discoveries, no dive trip to Lighthouse Reef Atoll is complete without a visit to the Blue Hole. No matter how many times I dive this vertical cavern I never tire of it, the sheer size of it still boggles my mind. Perfectly round and 1,000 feet in diameter, the site has a maximum depth of 412 feet but you don't need to go deeper than 130 to explore the mouth of a cave that is filled with rows of stalactites and stalagmites. Diving the Blue Hole is one of the sport's "do it before you die" experiences, and just one more reason to come visit us in Belize.

So my friends & fellow divers, as always . . . be ocean minded,
Peter

Be sure to join Peter Hughes and Lad Atkins on the next REEF expedition May 1-8, 2010.