Snorkeling Half Moon Caye - BelizeSnorkeling Half Moon Caye was a treat. This was the second stop on our Lighthouse Reef Atoll snorkeling trip. We stopped to have lunch at Half Moon Caye, and had a great snorkel here in some shallow water. One of the tour guides came off the boat to show us around while the rest of the divers left on the boat to go to a separate dive location.
Half Moon Caye is protected by the Belize Audubon Society and is notable for the colony of rare Red Footed Boobies that roost here. It was a nice place to stretch our legs and check out the wildlife. We hiked out to the observation tower and had a great time checking out the birds in the tree canopy, both Magnificent Frigatebirds and the Red Footed Boobies.
We noticed some pretty huge iguanas on the island, and had fun watching some crabs drag their borrowed shell homes across the trails.
Snorkeling Half Moon Caye was really pretty good. The snorkeling area was on the west tip of the island on the atoll reef edge. It was all very shallow, in maybe four to six feet of water. Our guide pointed out lots of interesting things, including a number of small octopus and lobster that I am sure we would have missed. We snorkeled around the area for about an hour and had a great time focusing on all the small life.Mostly we saw immature fish, but there was a nice variety of decent sized tropical fish as well, including the lovely Queen Triggerfish.
The area was also covered with conch shells, both alive and vacant. It was pretty neat turning a few over and seeing their foot and eyes peering out (see pictures below).
We also found a Yellowline Arrow Crab which was a treat to see. Our guide picked it up and handed it to us, but then made sure to put it back in a protected place which was nice to see.
We also came across a decent sized ray almost hidden in the sand.
This spot was actually the highlight of our Lighthouse Reef trip, but it was not so exceptional that we would ever consider going out to Lighthouse Reef again. Enjoy some more pictures below of snorkeling Half Moon Caye.
This is a picture of our guide looking under rocks trying to find things to show us.
See our third snorkel spot from this trip - Long Caye Wall
Return from Snorkeling Half Moon Caye to Lighthouse Reef
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