Belize’s famous Blue Hole looks breathtaking from a bird’s eye view, with its perfectly circular shape and pristine blue waters, but what lies at the bottom is tragic. The massive Blue Hole lies 60 miles off of the coast of Belize and drops an astronomical 410 feet to the bottom of the ocean.

Diving to great depths is a risky endeavor that requires experience and expertise. Very few divers have the experience and capability to dive into places like the Blue Hole, yet the famous explorer, Jacques Cousteau, had all of the necessary experience. 

In the mid-1970s, Jacques Cousteau’s Calypso made his famous exploration of the Blue Hole, beginning an era of dive travel in Belize. Jacques said that after exploring the Blue Hole, he was confident that it was one of the top five diving spots on Earth. 

The Belize Barrier Reef lies east off of the Belize coast. It is one of the largest portions of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. 

At the center of the reef lies a dark spot known as the Blue Hole, which has intrigued and mystified explorers for decades. This hole lies on the eastern end of the Belize Barrier Reef, in a small portion of the larger reef known as Lighthouse Reef. 

The Great Blue Hole is an enormous ocean anomaly; a large underwater sinkhole big enough to fit two Boeing 747s side by side. The hole is perfectly circular in shape, 984 feet (300 metres) across, and 410 feet deep (125 metres). It is considered the world’s largest natural formation, giving it the distinct honor to be named a World Heritage Site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Over the years, the Great Blue Hole has become an extremely popular diving destination, attracting experienced scuba divers from all over the world.

In 2018, Jacque Cousteau’s grandson, Fabien Cousteau, returned to the Hole with an Aquatica Submarine to capture high-quality photos and videos of what lies in its depths. 

Fabien’s plan drew interest from other ocean explorers, including the legendary adventure, conservationist, and billionaire, Sir Richard Branson. 

Branson spends his time and resources raising awareness about climate change. Branson was in Belize supporting Ocean Unite and promoting the importance of protecting at least 30 percent of the ocean by 2030.

Branson knew that a dive into the Blue Hole would be a unique experience, to say the least. The Blue Hole is not the largest or deepest in the ocean, but its unusual  geological composition and shape have made it impossible to penetrate to the bottom. 

Cousteau, Branson, and Bergman made it possible for all of us to enjoy the exploration into the Blue Hole by live streaming their descent, using the Discover Channel as a platform to broadcast their feed worldwide in real-time. 

In March 2012, filmmaker and explorer James Cameron made a record-breaking solo dive 35,787 feet (10,908 metres) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible vessel to reach the world’s deepest frontier: the Mariana Trench. 

During the initial descent, the crew’s visibility was reduced by the submarine kicking up sediment. 

What is unique about finding underwater stalactites is that they’re commonly only found in dry caves on land. As far as scientists knew, it was impossible for caves to form beneath the surface of the water. 

The crew determined that the existence of underwater stalactites could only mean one thing: the stalactites were formed on dry land. But how? 

Caribbean sea levels rose rapidly at the end of our last major Ice Age 14,000 year ago, swallowing up vast stretches of dry Earth.

The Aquatica crew was not the first to dive into the Blue Hole. Many years before, a team of researchers from Louisiana State University and Rice University dove into this ocean marvel, collecting geological samples from its sheer walls at varying depths. 

Anyone that participates in these kinds of dives has a mission in mind. This team in particular was ready to answer some important questions that had been on the minds of researchers for years.

A good portion of Central America, including Belize, had once been home to one of the world’s most advanced civilizations — the Mayans. Cities throughout the Mayan kingdom were abandoned, leading to the collape of the culture. 

The university team was caught in a 20-foot thick toxic and deadly layer of hydrogen sulfide, floating around 30 meters beneath the ocean’s surface. 

This noxious layer of hydrogen sulfide often marks the threshold to which divers can travel. However, the Aquatica crew had prepared for this layer using a vessel equipped to survive the harmful environment. 

The team managed to get to the bottom of the hole after making their way through the thick cloud of hydrogen sulfide, a never-before-accomplished feat. 

From a bird’s eye view, the Blue Hole looks like a pristine ocean wonder, untouched by man. However, as the Aquatics three-person crew continued diving deeper, the reality of what was at the bottom of the hole was uncovered. 

The Aquatica crew discovered a two-liter coke bottle, and a Go-Pro with vacation photos on it, but that is not all. They also found the bodies of two of the three people who went missing in the Blue Hole.

While it was certainly a disappointing site to see trash at the bottom of the Blue Hole, Branson did not want to be passive about his experience. Instead, he teamed up with the conservationist conglomerate, Ocean Unite, to find ways he could take action to save Blue Hole’ and the rest of our world’s oceans.

Branson spoke with the nation’s leader to convince him to set aside 10% of the territorial waters surrounding Belize as protected conservationist areas.

Since plastic use exploded after the second World War, it has caused irreperable damage to our planet. It is estimated that up to 13 million metric tons of plastic is dumped in the ocean each year. Fish, seabirds, sea turtles, and marine mammals are dying by becoming entangled in or ingesting plastic debris, causing suffocation, starvation, and drowning.