Shark Ray Alley
Dive site on the Belize Barrier Reef or its offshore atolls. Here's what has been recorded at this site month by month, how the region’s reefs have weathered ocean heat, and how to prepare.
Shark Ray Alley: dive site on the Belize Barrier Reef or its offshore atolls.
Entry
Shore and boat entries vary by site. We list only rules we can cite from official sources; entry points, depths and currents will be added once we can verify them.
- Hol Chan Marine Reserve: you may dive and snorkel in the recreational zones only after registering and being briefed on the reserve rules; scuba only if you are certified or on a course run by a certified instructor. Belize Fisheries Department · Hol Chan Marine Reserve
- Hol Chan: fishing and feeding fish are prohibited, gloves are prohibited, and no gear other than fins and mask is allowed. Belize Fisheries Department · Hol Chan Marine Reserve
- Scuba diving is prohibited within the exclusive recreational area of Shark Ray Alley. Belize Fisheries Department · Hol Chan Marine Reserve
Near this sitegeotagged about 1.1 km from the site coordinates Atlantic blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus) · Natalie Lemanski · CC BY-SA 4.0 · iNaturalist
The surface noise falls away.
Reds go first. The world turns blue-green.
Then Shark Ray Alley rises to meet you.
What lives here, by month
Pick a month. These are the species most often recorded within about a kilometre in that month, from open survey records.
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dog snapper | ||||||||||||
| Nurse shark | ||||||||||||
| Horse-eye jack | ||||||||||||
| Bluestriped Grunt | ||||||||||||
| Black Margate | ||||||||||||
| Yellowhead Wrasse | ||||||||||||
| Schoolmaster Snapper | ||||||||||||
| Gray Snapper | ||||||||||||
| Sand Tilefish | ||||||||||||
| Bar jack | ||||||||||||
| Gray angelfish | ||||||||||||
| Sergeant Major |
Most-recorded species, all months
- Dog snapper (3)
- Horse-eye jack (2)
- Nurse shark (2)
- Bluestriped Grunt (1)
- Black Margate (1)
- Yellowhead Wrasse (1)
- Schoolmaster Snapper (1)
- Gray Snapper (1)
- Sand Tilefish (1)
- Bar jack (1)
- Gray angelfish (1)
- Sergeant Major (1)
- Green moray (1)
- Yellowline Arrow Crab (1)
- Southern Stingray (1)
- Permit (1)
GBIF.org (2026-10-15), occurrence records within ~1 km, licensed CC0 or CC BY 4.0 only. Birds and land animals are excluded. Counts reflect survey effort, not abundance. 21 qualifying records. See them on GBIF. Common names: Wikidata (CC0) / GBIF. Species photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species.
Forty-one summers of heat
Each stripe is one year since 1985, colored by its peak heat stress across NOAA's “Belize” region. These are NOAA Coral Reef Watch satellite figures for the whole region, not for this one site.
Heat stress, measured from orbit.
NOAA CRW virtual station “Belize”. NOAA's alert thresholds are 4 °C-weeks (Alert Level 1) and 8 °C-weeks (Alert Level 2). Station page · Method. Credit: NOAA Coral Reef Watch.
Conditions
Average sea temperature through the year. Check the live readings before you go.
Average sea surface temperature by month: NOAA CRW “Belize” station climatology (monthly means).
Buoy readings are measurements; forecasts are models. Use them for planning only, and assess conditions on site. Depth and visibility data aren't listed until we can cite a source.
Plan & prepare
- Read the official marine forecast the night before.Offshore, wind and sea state decide the day.
- Check the cited local rules above and pay any park fee before you dive.[Placeholder: verified operator list to come]
- Study this month's species above.You'll recognise more when you know the names.
- Hands off, fins up, buoyancy dialled. Log what you see.Your sightings can become tomorrow's open data.
Photographs from Shark Ray Alley
Openly licensed photos, each checked for location against its title, description, category or geotag. Labels show how close each one is to the site.
Credits
- Coordinates
- Wikidata Q21870310 (CC0). Wikidata (CC0) and OpenStreetMap (ODbL) features. These are approximate positions, not official mooring coordinates.
- Species records
- GBIF.org, CC0 & CC BY 4.0 records. By license: CC0_1_0: 19, CC_BY_4_0: 2
- Dataset
- iNaturalist Research-grade Observations · doi:10.15468/ab3s5x (21 records) · GBIF
- Query
- https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?decimalLatitude=17.841569999999997,17.86157&decimalLongitude=-88.03014,-88.01013999999999&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&taxonKey=44&taxonKey=206&taxonKey=229&taxonKey=136&taxonKey=225&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&limit=0
- Heat stress & SST
- NOAA Coral Reef Watch, 5 km Regional Virtual Station “Belize”
- Hero photo
- Near this sitegeotagged about 1.0 km from the site coordinates Nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) · Marilyne Busque-Dubois · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist
- Arrival photo
- Near this sitegeotagged about 1.1 km from the site coordinates Atlantic blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus) · Natalie Lemanski · CC BY-SA 4.0 · iNaturalist
- Gallery
- 7 photos, credited under each image
- Species photos
- Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species. Full list: Data & sources