*Note: Lighthouse Reef Resort is currently closed and will be
reopening in 2008* In the meantime you can still visit Lighthouse Reef from Turneffe Atoll or Ambergris Caye.

Of the three atoll reefs off the coast of Belize, Lighthouse Reef is the farthest offshore and home to one of the most popular dive sites in the Caribbean, the Great Blue Hole made famous in the mid 1970s by Jacques Cousteau's Calypso Expeditions.

There are six cayes in the atoll. In the north, Sandbore Caye is one of the two cayesequipped with lighthouses occupied by a keeper and his family. Nearby is Northern Caye and these two cayes are known locally as Northern Two Cayes. On Northern Caye is one of the newest offshore diving resorts. Much of the caye has well-matured mangroves and there is an internal lagoon. The caye is noted for its saltwater crocodiles and snowy egrets.

The most popular caye at Lighthouse Reef atoll is Half-moon Caye located at the southeast corner. Half-moon Caye is divided into two very distinct ecosystems. The western half of the caye is densely vegetated. The soils are made rich and fertile by guano from thousands of sea birds nesting in the area. The eastern half by comparison is vegetated primarily by coconut palms and very little underbrush.

One of the principle inhabitants of Half Moon Caye's western side is the Red-footed Booby, numbering around 4000 breeding birds. This area was the first reserve to be established by the Natural Parks System Act of 1981 in Belize. The adult booby population found on the island is unusual in having an almost total predominance of the white color phase. The only other similar booby colony is on an island near Tobago. Elsewhere, adult Red-footed Boobies are dull brown.