Ambergris Caye

Ambergris Caye needs 4 days: diving or snorkeling at Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley, with rays and nurse sharks in shallow water, over two, and a plane or boat excursion to the Great Blue Hole, a circular underwater sinkhole 300 meters in diameter, on another. March-May and November are best. It's mid-to-high priced for Central America, Belize's most touristically developed island. It's the gateway to the second-largest coral barrier in the world, and its Great Blue Hole -formed as a limestone cave thousands of years ago and later flooded- is one of the most famous dive sites on the planet, popularized by Jacques Cousteau in the 1970s.