Sink Into The Blue Hole


Grand Canyon of the underwater realm, the Blue Hole is one of the most famous dive sites in the world. From the air, the reef outlines an ominous, nearly perfect dark blue circle 1,000 feet in diameter in the center of a shallow lagoon. Formed more than 12,000 years ago during the last Ice Age when the cavern was exposed above water, the Blue Hole is now covered by sea water more than 440 feet deep. The late Jacques Cousteau was the first to explore its dark recesses.

This dive experience is surreal, and divers who take the plunge will discover a vision as strange as a far-off planet. Beneath the lip of the Blue Hole is a wide cavern that provides a ceiling and floor for hundreds of craggy stalagmites and stalactites, some over 30 feet long. Those who venture into the deep will never forget the image of these huge, eerie limestone columns looming up in the beam of the dive lights. I know I'll never forget my descent into the inky blackness and my first "deep" dive to 145 feet.

The excitement begins with a detailed dive briefing and specific instructions for the descent, depth, bottom time, ascent, safety stops, and return to the boat. Since this is a deep dive, two safety stops are needed and only 8 minutes at depth means keeping a close eye on your computer. With no visible bottom, it's easy to go too deep too fast and become disoriented. Day boats and live-aboards dive this unique site in the middle of Lighthouse Reef every week. Divemasters are careful, thorough, and do their best to keep divers together in a group during the entire dive.

Dark vertical walls appear endless as we exhale and descend. Plummeting to seeming infinity, our eyes try and focus in the dim nothingness. The walls slope inward at 100 feet and large stalactites hang from the undercuts below 130 feet. Bubbles from excited divers stream to the surface and break against the overhang as we drop below 140 feet. Our guide leads us through the limestone columns after reaching our maximum depth. Practically devoid of marine life, our dive lights search the depths for fish, coral and sponges, and find only small growth on the walls and stalactites. Soon it is time to begin our ascent to the first safety stop at 25 feet for 5 minutes. We then linger at 15 feet for another 5 minutes along the sandy edge of the circular reef before returning to the boat.

The copyright of the article Sink Into The Blue Hole in Scuba Diving is owned by Linda Gettmann. Permission to republish Sink Into The Blue Hole in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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