The Belize Barrier Reef is one of the most amazing attractions in Belize, Central America and the rest of the world for being the second largest of its kind. The Barrier Reef stretches for about half a mile offshore and is home to a spectacular array of marine life.

Diving in Belize is surely made yet more pleasurable to tourists given the wonder of seeing and experiencing some of the best marvels that nature has to offer. The Belize Barrier Reef has grown as one of the leading attractions in Belize, encouraging Belize diving as a major tourist activity, water sports, marine tours and other eco friendly marine pastimes.

Three other atolls are situated east of the Barrier Reef in Belize including a fourth which is known as the Banco Chinchorro that has sparked much interest with wreck diving enthusiasts. Three of the atolls of the Barrier Reef Belize developed on two levels of underwater ridges which are set apart from each other by profound underwater trenches. The two levels of ridges are identified as Lighthouse, Turneffe and Glover.

Water in the Barrier is described as being shallow, but deep on the outskirts and farther offshore hence the dark blue shades that appear if observed from above or afar. Travel Belize brochures and photos will normally depict a constricted yellow line that separates two distinct shades of blue. The Belize Barrier Reef is located near Amberbris Caye which is one of the highest populated Belize cayes. These colour patterns of blues and colorful tropical coral are pleasing to the eye, offering a master piece of art in the pristine waters of Belize.

Belize Barrier Reef however represents much more than a major tourist attraction. It serves as an essential wave breaker for Belize and thus a natural protector for Belize beaches against soil erosion and other threats poses by the sea to local inhabitants in these parts of Belize. Barrier reefs provide a wonderful opportunity for getting in direct contact with marine life for academic, subsistence and leisure time purposes.

But the Barrier Reef Belize in itself is life. It protects life and is a living wall comprising several billions of coral organisms called polyps. These polyps which make up the Barrier Reef and allows for such amazing diving in Belize survive and feed off small sea creatures which are seized by the stinging tentacles of the corals that make up the Belize reef. These polyps of the Barrier Reef in Belize feed at night and as a result are not visible during the day when their tentacles are tightly tucked in. Further life is added to the Barrier Reef by the blue green algae, which are also residents of the reef, by emitting oxygen of which the polyps forming the Barrier Reef Belize survive. Carbon dioxide released by the living coral is taken in by the algae and in a systematic process is recycled/absorbed and emitted as oxygen. The value of these little blue green algae may not be known by the regular reader, but surely, the relationship developed in the marine environment of the Belize Barrier Reef is symbiotic.