Turneffe Atoll

Turneffe is around fifty kilometres long and made up of something like two hundred low mangrove cayes around a shallow interior lagoon, which makes it quite unlike the sand-and-palm image of an atoll. It became Belize's largest marine reserve in 2012 after a long campaign. The mangroves are a nursery for the whole reef system, the flats inside hold bonefish, permit and tarpon in numbers that made this a fly-fishing destination decades ago, and the outside edge drops into wall diving, with the Elbow at the southern tip a well-known spot where currents concentrate large pelagics.

History

The pirate Blackbeard, Edward Teach, spent the winter of 1717-1718 harassing ships in the Bay of Honduras, and between 4 and 5 April 1718 at Turneffe he captured the logwood sloop Adventure, forced its captain David Herriot to join him and made Israel Hands its captain before sailing for North Carolina. The atoll was declared a marine reserve on 22 November 2012, and since October 2013 the Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association has co-managed it with the Belize Fisheries Department (Wikipedia, Turneffe Atoll).

The landscape

• The Elbow - the southern point, a current-swept dive with big fish.
• The flats - bonefish, permit and tarpon inside the atoll.
• The mangrove cayes - a nursery for the wider reef system.
• The wall - the outside edge dropping into deep water.

When to go

December to April is the dry season with the calmest crossings. Permit fishing is good year-round; tarpon peak from around May to September. The Elbow requires settled conditions and is not always divable.

Before you go

There is no scheduled transport and no village; access is through one of a handful of lodges or on a liveaboard, and both are expensive. The Elbow has strong current and is an advanced dive. Sandflies in the mangroves are severe. Day trips from Belize City involve a long crossing for limited water time.

Nearby

Lighthouse Reef and the Blue Hole are further east; Belize City is two hours west.

Key facts