Glover’s Reef is the southernmost of three atolls off Belize’s coast. The southern part of Glover’s is approximately 30 nautical miles from Placencia, a journey that takes a little more than an hour and a half. The ride is certainly worth every minute as some of the best scuba diving in the Western Caribbean can be found here and the conditions here make for some of the best fun dive trips we offer. Glover’s Atoll is an oval-shaped reef system 15 miles long by 4 miles wide. Five islands lie on the eastern side where most of the diving is done. These islands are mostly private with small diving and fishing resorts. The pristine waters with unique coral formations and tons of marine life make Glover’s Reef a popular spot for divers wanting to see the best Belize has to offer. Glovers is one of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites and a marine reserve with designated no-take and conservation zones.

We recommend all our divers, whether taking a fun dive package, a day trip, or on a resort diving package, take the time to visit Glover’s Reef as it also represents some of the best diving in Belize, and is accessible from Placencia.

Trip Plan

As this is a three-tank boat dive trip to a remote atoll, divers need to arrive at our dive center by 05:30 for a 06:00 am departure. Due to the early start, a complimentary continental breakfast is served at our dive center. An authentic Belizean-style picnic lunch is served during the surface interval after the second dive. The boat ride takes about 1 and 45 minutes. The trip gets back at around 4:00 pm.

Due to the span of open water, we only do this trip when the weather is such that we are reasonably certain that the dive boat will be able to comfortably cross from the Belize Barrier Reef to Glover’s Atoll. In case of questionable weather, we will target Glover’s as the destination, with the fallback of going to South Water Caye. The boat captain will evaluate the sea state when the boat arrives at the cut to cross the barrier reef near South Water Caye. If the boat captain concludes that the sea state is too rough to cross, then the group dives at South Water Caye.

Dive Sites

The Aquarium

With crystal clear water and all the marine life to be seen here, this site is like diving in a manmade enclosed aquarium. This site is famous for large schools of yellowtail snappers and creole wrasse either out in mid-water or cruising along the wall in and around cleaning stations. Schools of horse eye jacks and black durgons can also be seen playing on the edge of the wall. Dolphins and turtles are common sightings at this site.

Off The Wall

This wall starts at 25 feet/8 meters, then drops steep 6000 feet/1800 meters into the Barlet deep, the deepest trench in the Caribbean. Because of the usual mild current and wave action, this site is always full of marine life feeding on organisms brought by the currents. Visibility at this site is usually more than 100 feet making this a spectacular dive. Critters here include Nassau groupers, lobsters, eagle rays, and several species of huge snappers. Occasionally in the months of December to February giant manta rays can be seen gliding close to the surface.

Manta Wall

This site got its name from the island resort closest to Glover’s reef. The dive starts in a sandy area, then heads south to a massive wall of stony corals. Great star corals, boulder star, and mound corals create unique swim troughs and also shelter nurse sharks and huge groupers. Smaller tropical reef fish can be found here in abundance. Queen conch, trumpet conch, and the king helmet conch can be found either crawling or buried in the sandy areas around this site.

Pinnacles

The pinnacle is an interesting dive site that has lots to offer divers tired of the walls and canyon-type formation. Huge pinnacles that start at 100 feet/30 meters rise up to around 25 feet/8meters below the surface. Lots of sponges, plate corals, and beautiful gorgonians can be found on each pinnacle. In between the pinnacles are deep sand channels where hog snappers and schoolmasters can be found. Pelagic species such as reef sharks, mackerel, tarpons, and barracudas can be seen here. This dive is done swimming around and even through a few of the pinnacles.