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Photo by: Bob Friel

The ancient Maya loved fishing and paddling. They were so eager to access the water sports off the coast of Belize that they dug a narrow channel across the dangly southern terminus of the Yucatán Peninsula as a shortcut for their canoes. This created a 24-mile-long island, and during their heyday, up to 10,000 Maya lived in fishing villages and trading centers on this caye.

Ambergris Caye is a skinny strip of sand backed by mangrove wetlands. Dozens of spindly piers reach from the shoreline like galley oars, underpinning the island's transportation system. Water-sports operators collect clients from hotel docks, and small outboard ferries run the island on a regular schedule, stopping wherever passengers flag them down. Based at Fido's Dock in San Pedro, the taxi boats operate on set fares from $8 to $13, depending on the distance from town.

There are more than 100 places to stay on Ambergris, ranging from back-bay budget bunkhouses to flat-out fabulous beach villas, along with rental homes, condos, and specialty fishing lodges and dive resorts. Most hotels string along the beachfront wall-to-wall near San Pedro, with more breathing space (and generally more sand) as you move north or south.  

No matter where you shack up, your focus will be Ambergris Caye's front yard: the Belize Barrier Reef, aka the Mesoamerican Reef, aka the Big Coral Kahuna, second in size only to the Great One Down Under. Belize's 190-mile-long bulwark of living coral atop prehistoric reef grows so close to Ambergris that it actually touches land at Rocky Point, on the island's north end, just below the old Maya canal that serves as the national border between Belize and Mexico. The reef stands about a half-mile offshore along the rest of the caye, close enough to swim to - though that's not recommended on account of boat traffic. Fortunately, myriad options exist to get you out to the awe-inspiring barrier reef.

Diving
Scuba diving built modern Ambergris Caye, with traveling divers "discovering" this reefside island back in the late '70s. Short boat trips to amazing sites, reliably clear water, friendly locals, and beach shacks serving burritos and cold Belikin made it a diver's dream destination. None of that has changed, though the recent building spree shocks many longtimers and there are real concerns regarding development's impact on the health of the reef. On the positive side, visitors now find a surfeit of reliable dive operators, lodging options and, of course, beer shacks.

Ambergris dive boats range from small lanchas to larger craft capable of handling a dozen bubblers, with a la carte rates averaging $40 per dive and packages reducing the cost considerably. A typical scuba trip begins with a deep dive on the outer reef. Coral grows right to the surface, and white water marks the reef crest in all but the calmest seas. Your captain navigates across the reef through a narrow channel – usually Tuffy Cut – and turns north or south, choosing from more than 40 named sites. Seaward of the crest, the barrier reef builds into massive spur and groove formations, which are natural coral architecture consisting of parallel fingers pointing to deep water, with sand-floor canyons in between. 

Ambergris Caye deploys a permanent buoy system to prevent damage to the reef by anchors, and boats tie off on the floats to drop divemasters and their groups. Once everyone is in the water, the boats cast off and follow the bubbles, picking up divers as they ascend; it's all very easy and safe.

If there's any knock on Ambergris Caye deep dives, it's that many of the sites are similar. The delights, though, exist in the details. A basic dive profile means following the guide into a groove between spurs and finning toward the open ocean. At the end of the spur, you're a spacewalker floating in the big blue, eyes peeled for a glimpse of fellow travelers such as manta and eagle rays, whale sharks and reef sharks. Then, you round the spur and head back up the next groove, into shallower water, where you're almost guaranteed to see nurse sharks. The best sites - Esmeralda, M&M Caverns, Cypress Tunnel, Victoria Tunnel and Paradise Canyon - stand out because of their elaborate swim-throughs: caves that lead from one groove to another, or areas where coral has grown so effusively as to roof over from spur to spur.

The favorite spot for the day's second or third dive, or for stellar night dives - and one of the best shallow dives in the world - is Hol Chan.

Lying within striking distance of two out of Belize's three coral atolls, several Ambergris Caye operators offer special daylong dive and snorkel trips. Scheduling a three-dive-plus-picnic expedition to Turneffe Atoll's coral walls, or to Lighthouse Reef Atoll's Great Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye National Monument (about $240, including park fees), will definitely spice up your week of diving.

As Belize's most famous dive site, the Blue Hole demands particular mention. A trip from Ambergris to the Blue Hole means a sunrise pickup and a three-hour boat ride each way. Though the dive itself is an ethereal experience - you take a quick vertical descent to a narcosis-inducing 130 feet, ducking under an ice-age overhang with thick limestone stalactites and possibly seeing sharks that have wandered into the hole - it's over very fast. In truth, the Blue Hole is more impressive from the air than underwater. That's not to say a trip isn't worthwhile, but you'll probably enjoy the day's wall dives and the visit to the bird sanctuary and beaches of Half Moon Caye more than the "saw it and got the T-shirt" dive into the Blue Hole.