Half Moon Key (Caye) Wall

Half Moon Key (Caye) Wall is a shore accessible salt water dive site, located in Light House Reef Area, Belize. This dive site has an average rating of 4.14 out of 5 from 36 scuba divers. The maximum depth is 26-30ft/8-9m. The average visibility is 91-100ft/28-30m.

Typical Depth Range: 30 ft (9 meters) to unlimited (wall)
100 ft (30 meters)
Half Moon Caye Wall is an exceptional dive site for intermediate to advanced divers. Anyone who has the opportunity to dive the offshore atolls should try to dive Half Moon Wall. Here, you can make several different types of dives without moving the boat, and between dives you can take time to picnic or observe the boobie bird colony on Half Moon Caye. One of the exciting aspects of this dive is entering one of the grooves and following it seaward. Half Moon Caye Wall is one of the best dive sites of the world. It is, as the name says, a wall dive if you ever get to see past the barrier of coral that separates the inner and outer reef. The dive can be done fairly shallow and will never get boring. Abundance of all kinds of marine life make it hard to keep concentrated on just one thing. Should you choose to visit the outer walls, majestic Eagle Rays and Manta Rays are known to patrol this steep abyss. The reef crest comprises a veritable thicket of staghorn coral with other corals also present. The reef drops steeply to a shelf at a depth of about 15 feet (5 m). Along this shelf there is a large expanse of sand which at first glance appears totally uninteresting. It is here, however, that a large community of garden eels is found. From a distance divers will think they are looking at sparse vegetation, but on closer examination each "leaf" turns out to be the upper half of a small eel protruding upright from its hole in the sand. A diver may get as close as 10 to 15 feet (3- 5 m) before they all disappear from sight. Also known as sand eels, there are very few colonies of this mysterious little creature found in Belize, and none allow divers to venture too close. The sand continues to slope gently until reaching a depth of between 45 and 50 feet (14-15 m). Here divers are at the back of Half Moon Wall, facing an outcrop of coral which rises up Iike a barrier along the very edge of the reef wall. To reach the front of the wall, you can rise up to within 20 feet (6 m) of the surface and swim over the barrier. There are also narrow gaps between the splendid outcrops of coral just wide enough for a single diver. The most interesting route is, as always, to find a tunnel and swim through the archway of living coral. Whichever route is taken, it is nothing compared to the breathtaking scenery South of Cathedral is Quebrada (the break), a single sand chute through the coral which reaches all the way to the reef wall. This wide ledge in such shallow water is absolutely amazing. The corridor allows divers to swim along inspecting the marine life which hides at the bottom of the coral. Arrow crabs, redbanded coral shrimp and juvenile spotted drums are all there, as well as a good number of green moray eels. Half Moon Caye Wall is described by some as “6,000 feet of vertical abyss”. These exquisite walls are unparalleled anywhere else in the world and provide a unique diving opportunity. A shallow beginning with huge corals lying on a white sand bottom where garden eels sway back and forth, drops vertically over spur-and-groove canyons with dense corals, swim-throughs, and some of the most spectacular sponge formations found anywhere. Larger pelagics such as eagle rays, sea turtles, and groupers are often seen swimming in the blue.