Great Blue Hole - wikipedia Great Blue Hole The Great Blue Hole, near Belize City, Belize Lighthouse Reef as seen from space. The Great Blue Hole is near the center of the photograph. The Great Blue Hole is a giant marine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 70 km ( 43 mi ) from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is circular in shape, 318 m ( 1,043 ft ) across and 124 m ( 407 ft ) deep. It was formed during several episodes of quaternary glaciation when sea levels were much lower. Analysis of stalactites found in the Great Blue Hole shows that formation took place 153,000 ; 66,000 ; 60,000 ; and 15,000 years ago. As the ocean began to rise again, the cave was flooded. The Great Blue Hole is a part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a World Heritage Site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ). Contents 1 Exploration and name 2 Tourism 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Exploration and name This site was made famous by Jacques Cousteau, who declared it one of the top five scuba diving sites in the world. In 1971 he brought his ship, the Calypso, to the hole to chart its depths. Investigations by this expedition confirmed the hole 's origin as typical karst limestone formations, formed before rises in sea level in at least four stages, leaving ledges at depths of 21 m ( 69 ft ), 49 m ( 161 ft ), and 91 m ( 299 ft ). Stalactites were retrieved from submerged caves, confirming their previous formation above sea level. Some of these stalactites were also off - vertical by 5  ̊ in a consistent orientation, indicating that there had also been some past geological shift and tilting of the underlying plateau, followed by a long period in the current plane. The tilt indicates that this was a movement of the land, rather than a rise in sea level alone. Initial measured depth of Great Blue Hole was 125 m ( 410 ft ) which is the most often cited depth up to this day. An expedition by the Cambrian Foundation in 1997 measured the hole 's depth as 124 m ( 407 ft ) at its deepest point. This difference in measurement can be explained by ongoing sedimentation or by imprecision in measurements. The expedition 's goal was to collect core samples from the Blue Hole 's floor and document the cave system. To accomplish these tasks, all of the divers had to be certified in cave diving and mixed gases. The name `` The Great Blue Hole '' was coined by British diver and author Ned Middleton in the book `` Ten Years Underwater '' ( Immel Publishing 1988, ISBN 0907151434 ). Tourism This is a popular spot among recreational scuba divers who are lured by the opportunity to dive in sometimes crystal - clear water and meet several species of fish, including Midnight Parrotfish, Caribbean reef shark, and other juvenile fish species. Other species of sharks, such as the bull shark and hammerheads, have been reported there, but are not regularly sighted. Usually, day trips to the Great Blue Hole are full - day trips from the coastal tourist communities in Belize. On - shore caves of similar formation, as large collapsed sinkholes, are well known in Belize and in the Yucatán Peninsula, where they are known as cenotes. Unlike the mainland cenotes which often link to underwater cave systems, there is little evidence of horizontal development in the Blue Hole. In 2012 Discovery Channel ranked the Great Blue Hole as number one on its list of `` The 10 Most Amazing Places on Earth ''. Even though the Great Blue Hole is considered a bucket - list dive, one should be aware that it is not for divers of all skill levels -- a prerequisite is logging more than 24 dives. It is also not a ' colourful dive ', instead, divers witness a dark cave with impressive stalactites. The Great Blue Hole has also been the site of infrequent skydives. Both tandems and fun jumpers have landed in the ocean after rides from 12,000 feet. See also Blue hole List of caves in Belize References ^ Jump up to : The Great Blue Hole of Lighthouse Reef Atoll, Belize, Central America : Deep Technical Diving to Collect Sea - Level Records. Transactions of the Fifteenth Caribbean Geological Conference. Jump up ^ `` Belize Blue Hole reef ''. NASA. Jump up ^ `` World Heritage Nomination -- IUCN Summary Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System ( Belize ) '' ( PDF ). IUCN / WCMC. ^ Jump up to : Jacques - Yves Cousteau ( 1973 ). Galapagos -- Titicaca -- The Blue Holes ( Hole ). London : Cassell. ^ Jump up to : Tysall, Terrance N ( 1999 ). `` The Belize Blue Hole Exploration Project ''. In Hamilton, RW ; Pence, DF ; Kesling, DE. Assessment and Feasibility of Technical Diving Operations for Scientific Exploration. American Academy of Underwater Sciences. Retrieved 2011 - 01 - 08. Jump up ^ `` Ten Things You Did n't Know About the Blue Hole of Belize ''. Yok Ha Belize Resort. Retrieved 2018 - 04 - 06. Jump up ^ Robert Lamb ; Amanda Arnold ( 2012 ). `` The 10 Most Amazing Places on Earth ''. Discovery Channel. Archived from the original on 2012 - 11 - 09. Retrieved 2013 - 09 - 12. Jump up ^ Ilya Rosado. `` What 's it really like to dive the Belize Blue Hole ''. Belizeadventure.ca. Jump up ^ `` Kickin ' back in Belize ''. External links Great Blue Hole website Protected areas of Belize National parks Aguas Turbias Bacalar Chico Billy Barquedier Chiquibul Five Blues Lake Gra Gra Lagoon Guanacaste Honey Camp Laughing Bird Caye Mayflower Bocawina Monkey Bay Elijio Panti Payne 's Creek Peccary Hills Río Blanco Sarstoon - Temash St. Herman 's Blue Hole Natural monuments Actun Tunichil Muknal Blue Hole Half Moon Caye Thousand Foot Falls Victoria Peak Nature reserves Bladen Burdon Canal Tapir Mountain Wildlife sanctuaries Aguacaliente Cockscomb Basin Corozal Bay Crooked Tree Gales Point Spanish Creek Swallow Caye Forest reserves Caye Caulker Chiquibul Columbia River Deep River Fresh Water Creek Grants Work Machaca Manatee Mango Creek Monkey Caye Mountain Pine Ridge Maya Mountain Sibun Sittee River Swasey Bladen Vaca Marine reserves Bacalar Chico Caye Caulker Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Glover 's Reef Hol Chan Port Honduras Sapodilla Cayes South Water Caye Archaeological reserves Altun Ha Barton Creek Cahal Pech Caracol Cerro Maya El Pilar Lamanai Lubaantun Marco Gonzalez Nim Li Punit Nohoch Che'en Santa Rita Serpon Sugar Mill Xunantunich Yarborough Cemetery Other reserves Aguacate Lagoon Bird sanctuaries Block 127 Community Baboon Sanctuary Golden Stream Monkey Bay Río Bravo Runaway Creek Shipstern Coordinates : 17 ° 18 ′ 55 '' N 87 ° 32 ′ 4 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 17.31528 ° N 87.53444 ° W ﻿ / 17.31528 ; - 87.53444 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Blue_Hole&oldid=853703137 '' Categories : Landforms of Belize Sea caves Underwater diving sites in Belize Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System Sinkholes of North America Talk Contents About Wikipedia Asturianu বাংলা Беларуская Català Cebuano Čeština Deutsch Español Esperanto فارسی Français 한국어 Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano ქართული Қазақша Kurdî Lietuvių Magyar Nederlands Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Slovenčina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Svenska தமிழ் Türkçe Українська Winaray 中文 26 more Edit links This page was last edited on 6 August 2018, at 13 : 17 ( UTC ). 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Question: where is the blue hole located in belize
Answer: near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 70 km (43 mi) from the mainland and Belize City