Belize's Great Blue Hole

'Mysterious tracks' on Belize's Great Blue Hole's floor explained by scientists
Jennifer Earl By Jennifer Earl | Fox News | 1 hour ago


This undated image provided by the Belize Tourist Board shows an aerial view of the Great Blue Hole, a popular diving site that's part of Belize's barrier reef. (AP Photo/Belize Tourist Board)

A giant underwater sinkhole located off the coast of Belize has grown in popularity over the years — for its size, deep blue colors and the mysteries that lie hundreds of feet below the ocean surface.

The tourist attraction, which has been dubbed the "Great Blue Hole," is a collapsed cave that measures approximately 984 feet across and 410 feet deep. NASA scientist Glyn Collinson once described it as the "deepest, deep blue hole imaginable."

So, it's no surprise scientists are eager to learn more about the crater, which has spurred rumors of sea monsters and bizarre creatures that live inside. In November 2018, researchers with Vancouver-based Aquatica Submarines sent a three-person submarine to the site to explore the bottom of the Great Blue Hole for the first time.

"Preserved from the disturbance of time, and isolated in the darkness, the hole holds clues to a very natural part of our planet’s life cycle. It’s these terraces and stalactites we set out to map," Erika Bergman, chief submarine pilot on the recent expedition, explained in a recent blog post.

The team conducted more than 20 dives into the large sinkhole from Nov. 27 to Dec. 13, taking videos and 3-D images during each trip, Aquatica Submarines said in a news release. They even completed a two-hour live broadcast from the deep blue waters that was featured on The Discovery Channel.

One of the biggest findings of the trip was the discovery of "mysterious tracks" in the sand roughly 350 feet below the surface.

In an interview with CNN Travel, Bergman said the "unidentifiable" tracks remain "open to interpretation."

Bergman, however, wrote in a blog post that they were located near an area researchers labeled the "Conch Graveyard," where they witnessed hundreds of dead conch that likely suffocated after becoming trapped in the oxygen-deprived base of the Blue Hole.

"Presumably, unsuspecting conchs (or other conch shell inhabitants) have been going just a little too close to the edge and falling into the hole at this entrance by the thousands. We can see each conch with little tracks back up the hill trying to escape, then a slide mark where it slid back down after presumably being asphyxiated in the anoxic environment," Bergman explained.

Roughly 300 feet below sea level, Bergman said the crew detected toxic hydrogen sulfide gas.

"There is no circulation in or out of the hole, and our onboard CTD and dissolved oxygen sensor revealed what we had predicted, the bottom is completely anoxic. There’s not a drop of oxygen below the H2S layer," Bergman described, noting that sargassum seaweed could be a contributing factor.

As far as billionaire business magnate and Virgin founder Richard Branson – who joined the expedition – is concerned, there is no mythical monster hiding in the depths of the Blue Hole.

See another pic at https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq49Q9rhxwC/

"The real monsters facing the ocean are climate change and plastic," Branson said, according to Newsweek. "Sadly, we saw plastic bottles at the bottom of the hole, which is a real scourge of the ocean. We’ve all got to get rid of single-use plastic.”

I've dived the Blue Hole twice. Depth limits for recreational scuba divers is 130'. In one area of the Blue Hole there is a "must do once so you can get the T-Shirt" dive site- you hop over the side of the boat and rapidly descend to a bit deeper than the recreational limit- about 134' where you swim in and out of a cave and in and around large stalagmites and stalactites.

A cool, creepy dark dive, which is short because at that depth your gas supply doesn't last very long if you're breathing off a single tank.

I videotape all my dives and edit them to keep the good stuff and add transition effects and sound- and can post the Blue Hole Dive from a year ago May if anyone is interested.

wizer wrote:

I've dived the Blue Hole twice. Depth limits for recreational scuba divers is 130'. In one area of the Blue Hole there is a "must do once so you can get the T-Shirt" dive site- you hop over the side of the boat and rapidly descend to a bit deeper than the recreational limit- about 134' where you swim in and out of a cave and in and around large stalagmites and stalactites.

A cool, creepy dark dive, which is short because at that depth your gas supply doesn't last very long if you're breathing off a single tank.

I videotape all my dives and edit them to keep the good stuff and add transition effects and sound- and can post the Blue Hole Dive from a year ago May if anyone is interested.

I'd love to see them.

The deepest I ever dove, was at the Y.M.C.A. pool...maybe 20 feet, to collect change when I was a kid.

Belilze Blue Hole Dive, 05/2018.

Filmed with GoPro Hero7 and two Video Lights.

Dive briefing sketch and dive rofile from dive log attached. I realized I hit 142' on that dive.

Beautiful video. Thanks for sharing.

Being submerged at any depth freaks me out, which is why I only take showers.

Thanks.

Scuba diving isn't for everyone.

The main reason people give is fear of sharks, claustrophobia and ear problems.

How many people go on a dive like that at the same time?

Is there a buddy system in case of problems?

We were on a liveaboard trip- 1 week on a large vessel that has 20 staterooms, holding 40 divers. On that particular dive, about half the divers dropped in the water at another point in the Blue Hole, to swim around the edge in the hopes of seeing marine life, most of them had already done this dive in the past and didn't feel the need to repeat. I had done it years ago but hadn't filmed it so I wanted to do it again.

There were about 15 of us on that particular dive, with a dive guide leading the way. Most were in buddy pairs but I was solo, which I generally prefer. I carry a small extra tank for safety. My girlfriend was on the trip with me but she skipped that dive entirely since she had done it once and 17 dives in a week were more than enough for her.

So I was solo diving in a dive guide led group, but sometimes I'll dive completely alone, or I'll be with 1 or more buddies, sometimes as part of a larger group, or sometimes completely on our own. Depending on where you dive, commercial charters may or may not supply a dive guide.

At home I dive alone off of my own boat, leaving one person on the boat or I'll drive somewhere for a shore dive, park my car, gear up and walk right into the water.

It does sound like a real adventure.