The Atoll

Stretching approximately 22 miles long and five miles wide, Lighthouse Reef is the most easterly of Belize’s three atolls. The atoll contains 5 cayes with Northern Caye being the largest and Hat Caye the smallest. Its shallow turquoise lagoon is encircled by an extensive coral reef crest and is home to the famous Great Blue Hole—a vast submerged sinkhole measuring roughly 1,000 feet across and more than 400 feet deep. Lighthouse Reef gained international recognition in 1971, when Jacques Cousteau explored the Great Blue Hole aboard his research vessel, Calypso. In 2024, the Government of Belize formally established the Lighthouse Reef Atoll Marine Reserve. The atoll also contains the Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye natural monuments, along with protected fish-spawning sites.

Half Moon Caye

Home to Island Expeditions’ adventure basecamp, Half Moon Caye is a 41.5-acre, crescent-shaped island approximately 55 miles off the Belizean mainland. Its rare littoral forest supports one of the western Caribbean’s most important nesting colonies of white-phase red-footed boobies, along with magnificent frigatebirds and numerous migratory species. The caye’s beaches also provide nesting habitat for loggerhead, green and hawksbill turtles, while its surrounding reef wall plunges more than 3,000 feet and supports an exceptional diversity of coral and marine life. A lighthouse station was first established on the island in 1820 to help ships navigate the surrounding reefs, becoming one of Half Moon Caye’s defining landmarks. First protected as a Crown Reserve in 1928, Half Moon Caye was designated a Natural Monument in 1982 and incorporated into the UNESCO-listed Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System in 1996.