Lighthouse Reef Adventure

Arrive at Belize City International Airport and meet your local representative for a 20-minute transfer to the Belize Biltmore Plaza Hotel. Check in, settle into the new surroundings, and rest after your journey. Dinner is available at the hotel restaurant and is at your own expense. Prepare to meet fellow travelers in the lobby the next morning.

*This is a base camping experience. Accommodations consist of wall-to-wall tented cabanas, spacious safari-style tents set on raised wooden platforms. Each tent offers ample headroom and features real wood-framed beds with 6-inch foam mattresses. Tents can be arranged with either double or single beds, and all linens are provided.

 

Meet a representative at 8:30 a.m. in the Biltmore Plaza Hotel lobby. After a quick stop at a local shop, transfer to a private motorboat and journey 56 miles offshore, passing mangrove ranges and white sand cayes en route to Lighthouse Reef Atoll, Belize’s most remote island group. On arrival at Half Moon Caye, your guide team welcomes you with an orientation and helps you get settled into camp. Enjoy a late lunch, followed by an introductory session on sea kayaking and snorkeling before heading out onto the water.

Due to its isolated location from the mainland, the waters of Lighthouse Reef offer exceptionally clear views, boasting abundant fish populations and colorful coral reefs, making it one of the best spots for sea kayaking, snorkeling, and scuba diving in Belize.

Throughout your stay, you'll have ample opportunities to learn from your guides about the marine reef ecology, local flora and fauna, and the island's coconut and littoral forest, which is unusual for a coastal area. Half Moon Caye, a stunning 45-acre nature preserve, is home to a colony of red-footed boobies and a rookery of magnificent frigatebirds. You'll visit viewing platforms built by the Belize Audubon Society to observe nesting sites on the island.

Over the coming days, you can also explore a disappearing shipwreck just north of the caye. Activities will be tailored daily based on weather conditions and group preferences. Alternatively, relax in a hammock with a good book and a cold beverage.

Later in the trip, journey to the world-renowned Great Blue Hole, a massive collapsed sinkhole adorned with soft and hard corals of various colors, which was made famous by ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau. Travel the 6-mile (9.5 km) distance by motorboat or kayak to reach this perfectly circular formation within the Lighthouse Reef atoll.

Continue exploring deeper into the atoll with extended fishing trips, visits to new patch reefs, or downwind paddle trips on SUPs, all chosen by your guides to suit the day's conditions and your interests.

On the final night, enjoy a special dinner prepared just for you by the cooks. Following dinner, immerse yourself in a cultural presentation featuring drumming and dancing to celebrate your last night at Half Moon Caye.

*Due to the remote location of the Lighthouse Reef Basecamp, the activities on the reef portion of this trip are weather-dependent and are subject to change.

The choice is yours for your last morning at Lighthouse Reef. Snorkel your favorite reefs, walk the island trails, swing in a hammock, or beachcomb along the immaculate island beaches.

After lunch, a motor charter will arrive to take you back to the mainland. This journey will take you through Turneffe Atoll, across the Great Barrier Reef, and you'll arrive at the Belize City Biltmore Hotel by late afternoon.

For travelers leaving Belize after this trip, we strongly recommend spending a night in Belize City. International connections out of the country require a departure the following day. Talk to your Adventure Life Trip Planner about hotel reservations in Belize City or extending your Belize itinerary by combining this trip with another adventure.