Experience nature’s light show on water!
Anderson’s Lagoon in Sittee River Village has some of the best views of bioluminescence in the world!
The Bioluminescence Tour in Hopkins, Belize is seasonal. Conditions have to be just perfect in the Anderson Lagoon and it usually starts in mid-December and runs until the end of May which are the driest months of the year. During this time of the year (Dec- May) because of the dry season the lagoon is highly saturated with the harmless microorganisms called dinoflagellates that emit blue-looking light when disturbed. When this happens we get bioluminescence which causes a mesmerizing glow of ultra-blue light across the lagoon when the water is splashed or touched. It’s absolutely unbelievable!
Here is how the adventure begins
The tour starts at 5:30 Pm and the boat ride to the lagoon is about 30 minutes. The boat ride down the Sittee River is basically a sunset cruise, spotting iguanas resting on branches, kinkajous eating mangoes in treetops, and even crocodiles floating by the water banks.
Being amongst such an unspoilt landscape, the lack of light pollution means that as you cruise through the river and into the lagoon, you look up and notice the blanket of stars that lights up the sky.
Soon, you arrive the narrow entrance of the canal, by this time it is already dark. The lagoon is surrounded by mangroves and it is a mixture of fresh water from the Mayan Mountains and salt water from the Caribbean Sea.
The mixing of both fresh and salty water fills lagoon with brackish water, creating the perfect environment Bioluminescence.
The only way to truly top the experience is by taking a swim in the water. Each movement you make in the water will emit a glow of these sparkling particles right in front of your eyes.
The brackish mixture of the salt and fresh water makes the lagoon the pleasantly warm. This is why Belizeans call it “burning wata”. Make sure to make a big splash and see the water light up in blue all around you!
It really is something you must see to truly believe and feels almost as though you are swimming amongst the stars that you were just cruising under.
Taking photographs of this natural phenomenon is very challenging. A specialty low light camera is needed to capture it so you really need to see it to believe it!
The bioluminescence really is one of the best ways to end an evening here in Hopkins, Belize. The tour wraps up around 8:00 pm.
Photos courtesy of our partners Belizing.com.
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