Long Caye, Lighthouse Reef Atoll, Belize

Painted Wall

Painted Wall is a colourful wall dive on the western side of Long Caye in Lighthouse Reef Atoll, named for the dense profusion of orange, yellow, purple and red sponges that paint the wall in vivid colours. The reef top sits at 10 metres and the wall drops vertically past 35 metres into the deep blue. Tube sponges, vase sponges, elephant-ear sponges, deep water sea fans, sea plumes and large black coral colonies decorate the face. The shallow shoulder is a coral garden of star, brain, sheet and pillar corals. Reef life includes schools of horse-eye jacks, schoolmasters, midnight parrotfish, queen and French angelfish, large groupers and the occasional permit. Caribbean reef sharks patrol the deeper wall and eagle rays cruise the rim. Hawksbill turtles graze the sponges and spotted moray eels live in the cracks. Currents are usually moderate, dives are run as drifts. Visibility 25 to 40 metres. Open water with deep specialty recommended.