Punta Gorda, Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve, Belize

Hunting Caye

Hunting Caye is the most accessible island in the Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve, the southernmost protected area on the Belize Barrier Reef and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The dive runs along the seaward edge of the caye, with the reef top at 10 metres and a slope through coral garden to the wall edge at 22 to 25 metres. The structure is built on healthy coral cover including mountainous star coral, brain coral, sheet coral, pillar coral and rare elkhorn and staghorn coral. The wall edge is decorated with deep-water sea fans, large barrel sponges, vase sponges and rope sponges. Reef life includes schools of horse-eye jacks, yellowtail snapper, big mutton snappers, schoolmasters, French and queen angelfish, midnight parrotfish, large groupers and queen triggerfish. Caribbean reef sharks pass along the deeper wall, eagle rays cruise the rim and hawksbill turtles graze sponges. Loggerhead turtles nest on the caye's beach. Visibility 18 to 28 metres.