page_title: Belize Barrier Reef
section_title: Gallery
hierarchical_section_title: Belize Barrier Reef / Gallery
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the Belize Barrier Reef from the International Space Station
context_page_description: The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 meters offshore in the north and 40 kilometers in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300-kilometer long section of the 900-kilometer Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is continuous from Cancún on the north-eastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula through the Riviera Maya and down to Honduras, making it the second largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is Belize's top tourist destination, popular for scuba diving and snorkeling and attracting almost half of its 260,000 visitors. It is also vital to the country's fishing industry.
  Charles Darwin described it as "the most remarkable reef in the West Indies" in 1842.
  In addition to its barrier reef, it also boasts three distinct Caribbean atolls: Turneffe Atoll, Glover's Reef and Lighthouse Reef. Lighthouse Reef is the most easterly diving area in Belize, it is home to the Great Blue Hole, made famous by Jacques Cousteau in 1970; Turneffe Atoll lies directly to the east of Belize City and is the nearest of the atolls to the capital.
caption: The Belize Barrier Reef photographed from the International Space Station in 2016
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