Although the weather and fishing is generally good throughout the year in Belize there are some notable variations.
Bonefish are present in equal numbers throughout the year and there is no clearly preferable season for bonefishing.
Permit are also present throughout the year, although permit fishing tends to be more predictable when the prevailing winds are most consistent – generally in the winter, spring and summer. Some of our better permit fishing can be in the fall if the weather is not affected by a cold front.
Tarpon fishing is quite seasonal since they’re migratory. Our tarpon numbers begin to increase in April and May and drop off in September or October. Peak tarpon months are June, July, and August. Some resident tarpon are around throughout the year.
June, July and August are our best overall fishing months primarily because there are good numbers of all three species available. Summer temperatures are in the low-to mid-90s and a steady trade wind generally makes the weather very comfortable. Our centrally air-conditioned rooms make for comfortable sleeping throughout the summer.
Another favorite sport fish, the snook, can be found in the small mangrove creeks around the atoll. Add one of these to your Grand Slam and make it a “Super Slam.”
Barracuda are an underrated sport fish present in large numbers throughout the year. Reef species including snapper, grouper and jacks are also abundant year-round.
Temperatures throughout the year range from 75-95 degrees (average 84). Water temperatures average 79-80 degrees in the winter and 83 degrees in the summer. A comfortable southeasterly trade wind blows throughout most of the year, and tends to pick up in March and April. June begins the “rainy season” in Belize but this relates primarily to the mainland rainforest and has little effect on the offshore atolls. Fall weather is generally wonderful with pleasant temperatures and mild winds; however, the weather can occasionally be dominated by “northers'” or cold fronts.
Weather permitting, we take a day trip to Lighthouse Reef to visit The Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye and Long Caye.
Pioneered by Jacques Yves Cousteau in the early 70’s, The Great Belize Blue Hole has become Belize’s most famous dive site. The hole is a “karst-eroded sinkhole” formed when the roof of a cave, in an underground tunnel complex, collapsed. When sea levels rose at the end of the Ice Age, the once dry cave filled with sea water producing the hole that now measures 1000 feet across with a depth of over 460 feet. It is a Marine Protected Area and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The rim of the Blue Hole and the surrounding lagoon is only a few feet deep and excellent for snorkeling.
As you descend over the edge, through a thermocline at around 50 feet, big groupers, snappers and horse-eye jacks come to investigate. Deeper still, with your eyes adjusting to the low light, blacktip sharks can be seen slowly patrolling the depths. At approximately 110 feet, the first limestone ledge appears and immense stalactites hang from the ceiling. On your slow ascent back to the edge of the hole, spotted morays can be found in crevices and on the wall crest, you return to the domain of the parrotfish and angelfish.
After a picnic lunch on the island of Half Moon Caye and a visit to the Red Footed Bobby Bird Sanctuary, we head back underwater. Click here for more info on Lighthouse Reef activities.
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