From above, the Blue Hole of Belize is breathtaking. It’s a huge, almost perfectly round formation in the middle of the reef. Its deep azure color contrasts with the surrounding turquoise Caribbean waters.
But its deep color hides a deep secret. The hole plunges down almost 420 feet below the surface and has remained unexplored and untouched at those depths… until now.
A team of explorers have set out to discover what lurks at the bottom of the tantalizing ocean formation.
But what they would discover when they finally reach the ocean floor would leave them surprised, horrified… and deeply troubled.
The Cousteau Family
Diving into the depts of the ocean is not a task for any diver. It’s very risky, meaning that only someone with certain experience is suitable for the task, and no one has more experience than the Cousteau family.
The Cousteau family has a long history with the sea.
Fabien Cousteau’s grandfather, Jacques Cousteau, was a diving pioneer and helped design the SCUBA gear still used by divers today. Fabien, on his part, has dedicated his life to exploring the deep ocean. He’s searched for and discovered ancient shipwrecks, documented sharks and plunged into the dark, murky waters of the deep sea on countless occasions.
But his dive in Belize’s Blue Hole left him utterly speechless…
The Belize Barrier Reef
The Belize Barrier Reef, just east of Belize’s coast, is a big part of the ecosystem known at the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.
Starting in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula in the north and ending south of Honduras, it is the second largest reef network in the world, following Australia’s famous Great Barrier Reef.
The Blue Hole is situated in the reef’s center, a dark spot, beckoning explorers to it with its mystifying, unexplored depths.Advertisement
Under the Water
The Blue Hole is located in the easternmost part of the Belize Barrier Reef, in a smaller formation known as Lighthouse Reef.
An irresistible draw for SCUBA divers, the Blue Hole is truly a marvel of the natural world.
With a radius large enough to comfortably fit two Boeing 747 planes side by side in its gaping maw, the Hole is enormous – but still makes for some pretty tricky diving, requiring divers to have at least 24 previous dives under their belt before attempting to explore its depths.
But while the parts closer to the surface are quite a popular diving destination, its depths have remained unexplored, and may yet hold unimaginable secrets.
Fabien Cousteau had more than just a professional interest in this mission.
His grandfather, Jacques Cousteau, had visited the Blue Hole back in 1971 – and declared it one of the top five diving spots on the planet.
But back in the ’70s, the diving equipment available to the world-famous ocean explorer wasn’t nearly as sophisticated at the equipment available to his grandson – and while the older Cousteau only got a peek at the hidden depths of the Hole, it seemed his grandson would be in a position to expand on his work.
Virgin Oceanic
Fabien Cousteau wasn’t the only big name in ocean exploration to join the Blue Hole expedition.
Joining him was none other than the legendary billionaire, conservationist and adventurer, Sir Richard Branson.
Branson, through his ownership of the Virgin Group, is also an owner of the company Virgin Oceanic, which owns a fleet of submersible vehicles. Passionate about ocean exploration and conservation, Branson was keen on joining Cousteau in the Caribbean.
Descending to the bottom of the Hole, along with the two explorers, was oceanographer Erika Bergman, who would also pilot their submarine, Aquatica.
But while they were all excited about being the first humans to ever visit the bottom of the pit, their cheery faces would sport far grimmer expressions upon their return.
Man on a Mission
Sir Richard Branson had been very fortunate in his business ventures, and today, he is interested in giving back to society. One of the subjects he is most passionate about is raising awareness of climate change, and finding ways to combat it by promoting and educating about ecological sustainability.
Following Jacques Cousteau doctrine of “people protect what they love,” he finds great value in making the oceans more accessible to people – and had even hosted a summit on global warming at his private residence on the British Virgin Islands.
Planetary Inner Space
While the Blue Hole of Belize is far from being the deepest sinkhole in the ocean, its unique shape and geological composition have made the mission to penetrate its depths unique in the history of deep-sea exploration.
Sir Richard Branson called it a mission into “planetary inner space,” and media coverage of the event was unprecedented.
Branson, Cousteau and Bergman’s descent would be live streamed as they delved deeper underwater, with the Discovery Channel broadcasting their camera feeds all over the world in real time.
Finally, preparations were over, the checklists checked off and the cameras were rolling. The intrepid trio were ready to make history.
Aquatica
The last time there was so much excitement and public interest around a deep-sea mission was when acclaimed Hollywood director and ocean explorer James Cameron had descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench – the deepest known point in the world’s oceans.
Because the depth Cousteau, Branson and Bergman would be descending into far shallower waters, they could afford a much larger viewing dome. The Aquatica submarine boasted excelled views all around its passengers.
Soon, the sub was broadcasting images many SCUBA divers who had dived in the Blue Hole had seen – the blue waters swirled around a sheer cliff face, and the mission was underway.
Stalactites
At first, the submarine kicked up some sediment, harming the crew’s visibility – but soon, the floating underwater sediment gave way to a fascinating geological formation: caves upon caves of hanging stalactites.
While stalactites are common in caves on dry ground, it is impossible for them to form underwater – so how could there be stalactites more than 20 meters under the water?
Silent Testimony
For the crew, seeing cave stalactites underwater could only mean one thing. This was, in the words of Sir Richard Branson, “One of the starkest reminders of the danger of climate change” they had ever seen.
At the end of the last major Ice Age, sea levels in the Caribbean had risen at a rapid pace, submerging vast stretches of once-dry land. At 200 feet underwater, the coloring of the rock formations changed, denoting the previous levels of sea.
Samples
Years before Branson, Bergman and Cousteau had taken the Aquatica into the Blue Hole, a team of researchers from Rice University and Louisiana State University had descended into it in order to collect samples from its sheer walls, at different depths.
They hoped that the samples they took would help them solve a historical mystery that took place miles and miles away, deep in the jungles of Central America.
The Passing of a Civilization
Belize, as well as the rest of Central America, had once been home to a sprawling, advanced civilization – the Maya Kingdom.
One of history’s greatest mysteries was the apparent mass abandonment of Mayan cities, and the subsequent collapse of the ancient culture.
Could the Blue Hole hold the answers to the age-old question of the Mayan Civilization?
The scientists from the previous expedition to the Hole had found abnormally low levels of titanium and aluminum in its walls – elements which are usually worn out of rock and into the ocean waters by tropical storms. This could mean that the Maya’s decline may have been linked to a terrible, long lasting drought.
But the Hole had more secrets to reveal yet.
A Toxic Layer
As the team continued to descend, they began to notice a floating barrier beneath them. It was a deadly layer of water rich with hydrogen sulfide, 20 feet thick, floating nearly 30 meters below the surface.
Hydrogen sulfide is an extremely toxic substance which can corrode metal – and easily suffocate and kill any form of marine life that happens to wander into it. In the surrounding caves, the team found countless crabs, conches and other invertebrates that had become stuck in the noxious waters and died.
Usually, this unpleasant layer of water marks the very limit to which Blue Hole divers can travel – but the Aquatica was equipped to handle the harmful environment, and continued its descent.
What they would find beneath the layer of sulfide would prove to be far scarier than poisonous waters and crab carcasses.
Hitting Bottom
After battling through the thick layer of hydrogen sulfide, the team managed to reach the bottom of the pit – a feat never before accomplished by a manned vessel.
Fabien was especially excited: he would be able to pick up his grandfather’s work where he had left off, and expand our knowledge of the oceans.
The team planned to map the geological anomaly’s lowest reaches, and hopefully bring back some scientifically important findings.
But what they ended up finding beneath the heavy blanket of hydrogen sulfide would leave them terrified.
Submerged Wasteland
As Cousteau and his team mapped out the bottom of Belize’s Blue Hole, their feeling of dread and worry grew from minute to minute.
From the surface, the Blue Hole seemed like a pristine, untouched natural wonder, removed from any human influence. But as the submersible crawled across the bottom of the pit, a very different reality was revealed.
Countless empty plastic bottles, bags and garbage lined the Hole’s floor. The Hole, like many other parts of the ocean, was found to be an underwater landfill. The team were horrified, saddened and revolted. How could we have let this natural wonder turn into a garbage dump?
