The Hol-Chan Marine Reserve is popular with both divers and snorklers. Although like almost all the sites, you have to cross the reef and its rough water. On the other hand, the boat trip is of a shorter duration than most taking about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Two of the ladies on our boat were in processes of getting certified, as this is a drift dive for beginners to advanced.
The sloping shelf of this reef is abundant with gorgonians. Large purple fans seem to wave as you float over them. Here we saw a couple of 10-13 pound lobsters. The one was so large I dove through a small tunnel to get a better look with the dive master right with me. A beautiful spotted eagle ray caught my peripheral vision, but too fast and too far away to be photographed. Their shape, like an exaggerated diamond is so different from the rounded tips on a manta ray or the round body of the yellow stingrays found close to the beach.
A couple friendly groupers, having been fed by divers in the past, seemed to escort us through our entire dive. Knowing that things appear 25% bigger underwater and making the decision to take a snapshot, I outstretched my arm to get a better idea of how far away the fish was. My finger recoiled quickly as I was stunned that I touched the grouper. He obviously wasn’t fazed at all. I actually had to put some distance between us in order to get all of him into view.
One sight that was both new and fascinating to me was the pillar coral. They looked like stalagmites protruding from the ocean floor, some several feet high. Here, hamlets, purple and yellow fairy basslets, butterfly fish and others seemed to playing hide and seek. As I would seek a close-up picture they would hide behind a pillar.
The maximum depth on was 90 feet for certified divers and 35 feet for those in training and is a two-tank dive. The reserve is easily reached from both Caye Caulker and Ambergis. A $5 fee is charged for non-residents and a boat patrol does come around and count passengers.