Belize: Great Blue Hole

The Great Blue Hole is considered one of the most popular diving and snorkeling spots in the world. Why no one knows exactly, because there doesn't seem to be much to see, as we have read in various places. You can't really see it properly when you're in it anyway, after all, it has a diameter of about 300m. On the other hand, the Blue Hole can even be seen on satellite images from space. So, logic told us that it would probably make more sense to fly over it than to swim in it. So, we have been looking for ways to fly for some time now. There is a company that offers helicopter flights, but no one can afford them. In addition, two small Belizean airlines offer regular sightseeing flights several times a week in small airplanes, either from Belize City or from San Pedro on the Ambergris Cayes. However, due to the constantly bad weather, we had almost given up hope. The chances of booking the wrong flight at the wrong weather conditions, at the wrong time, in the wrong place were high.

And then... all of a sudden... there was a small yellow ball in the weather report! The sun! Good weather was forecasted, precisely for 2 days. Then rain again.
So we decided to seize the opportunity, returned to Belize City one day earlier than planned, and hastily chartered an entire damn airplane(lein)!
We flew in a tiny Cessna with 6 seats (including the pilot) from Javier's Flight Service. The pilot was Mark, I was the co-pilot.
Chartering the airplane from Javier's Flight Service was only about CHF 160 more expensive in total than a regular sightseeing flight for both of us with one of the Belizean airlines. And in retrospect, it was definitely one of our better ideas and the investment was absolutely worth it. We had a wonderful day, and Mark is truly an incredibly lovely guy. It was actually his day off, but he interrupted it to fly with us. He explained in detail which areas we would fly over and what we would see along the way. And he even let me take control for a short while, make a few turns, climb and descend. It was incredibly cool and immediately sparked my enthusiasm for flying myself. 😊 I want to fly too....! Jörg replied that it probably wouldn't be a problem and that it probably wouldn't cost much more than the countless driving hours for my driver's license.... haha....

We flew over the Turneffe Atoll and the Lighthouse Reef Atoll before reaching the Blue Hole. And there it was, a perfectly circular, dark blue hole in the midst of the brightly turquoise sea. Truly breathtaking. And once again, we were lucky: there was no one there, no ships, no dive boats, it was empty. It was absolutely enchanting. Mark flew several circles above it, long enough to admire its beauty and take about 1000 photos. Absolutely magical...

On the way back, we flew over a ship that had run aground on the reef and was left behind to become part of the reef over time.
Since we didn't immediately receive permission to land, Mark flew another round over Belize City, a great end to an incredibly spectacular experience.

If you ever come to Belize: do yourself a favor and fly over the Blue Hole. It's pretty much the only thing worth coming here for.