Spectacular natural attractions and the excitement of discovering Mother Nature’s Best Kept Secret draw travelers from around the globe, promising both relaxation and the richly rewarding authenticity they seek in a genuine Caribbean getaway. Belize is a country full of diversity, culture and history. Below we have featured four of Belize's most famous historic findings, facts, locations and objects. Learn all about them in detail and get the facts.
The Crystal Skull of Lubaantun in Belize
The most famous crystal skull is the Mitchell-Hedges “skull of doom” allegedly discovered by a 17-year old Anna Mitchell-Hedges in 1924 or 1927 while accompanying her adoptive father on an excavation of the ancient Mayan city of Lubaantun in Belize.
Mitchell-Hedges was in Belize, because he believed he would find the ruins of Atlantis. The Mitchell-Hedges skull is made of clear quartz crystal, and both cranium and mandible are believed to have come from the same solid block. It weighs 11.7 pounds and is about five inches high, five inches wide, and seven inches long. Except for slight anomalies in the temples and cheekbones, it is a virtually anatomically correct replica of a human skull.
Because of its small size and other characteristics, it is thought more closely to resemble a female skull and this has led some to refer to the Mitchell-Hedges skull as a “she.” READ MORE ABOUT THE CRYSTAL SKULL >>HERE
Shark Ray Alley - Top Seven Dive Animal Sites in the Caribbean
The world's largest diving magazine, Skin Diver, has given Belize's Shark-Ray Alley a feature in two issues. This dive site has been selected as one of the seven best "animal dives" in the Caribbean. For several year...s, local fishermen often cleaned their catch in this area, located just inside the reef, to the south of Ambergris Caye. When fishermen noticed that their activity had attracted Nurse Sharks and several Southern Sting Rays, they reported this information to the dive operations in San Pedro, who then dispatched some divers to investigate. What they found was a bonanza, and "Shark-Ray Alley" quickly became a very popular dive site. Shark-Ray Alley is a MUST SEE in Belize! READ MORE ABOUT BELIZE'S FAMOUS SHARK RAY ALLEY >> HERE
The Great Blue Hole discovered by Jacque Cousteau
In 1972, Jacques Cousteau took his famous research ship, Calypso into the Blue Hole, pioneering a route that is still used by the dive trade today. It's a feature attraction of Diving in Belize, Especially for divers with a appreciation of geographical phenomena, is the opportunity to explore the famed Blue Hole. Part of the Lighthouse Reef System, it lies approximately 60 miles off the mainland out of Belize City. It is one of the most astounding dive sites to be found anywhere on earth, right in the center of Lighthouse Reef is a large, almost perfectly circular hole approximately one quarter of a mile (.4 km) across. Inside this hole the water is 480 feet (145 m) deep and it is the depth of water which gives the deep blue color that causes such structures throughout the world to be known as "blue holes." LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FAMOUS BLUE HOLE >> HERE
Henry Edward Ernest Victor, Baron Bliss of Belize
Many of us know the British-born traveler willed two million U.S. dollars to a trust fund for the benefit of the citizens of what was then the colony of British Honduras simply as Baron Bliss and yearly we look forward to the holiday and festivities that marks the remembrance of his life and death every March 9th in Belize.
The national benefactor of Belize, was born Henry Edward Ernest Victor Bliss in Marlow, county of Buckinghamshire with a family lineage that went back to Edward Bliss, an Englishman who gained the Portuguese title Baron Barreto in the1820’s. The English Barons Barreto considered that, being Bliss’ too, they could legitimately use the name Baron Bliss. It was during his early adulthood that Bliss became the Fourth Baron of the Former Kingdom of Portugal. It is generally accepted that Bliss received his title of Fourth Baron through a family lineage with one Sir John Moore, a war hero of battles past. READ MORE ABOUT OUR FAMOUS BARON BLISS >> HERE
The Altun Ha Jade Head is a source of national pride in Belize and has become a famous and national symbol to the Belizean people. The carved jade head of Kinich Ahau, the Sun God was discovered in 1968 in a tomb under a giant central stair block leading to the main altar of Structure B4. At 15 cm high and weighing almost 10 pounds, the Jade Head is the largest jade piece to be discovered in the Mayan world. It was the most spectacular discovery at Altun Ha. The giant jade object was found on top of the right wrist of the person interred in the oldest of a series of seven royal tombs discovered in Structure B4, the Temple of the Masonry Altars. The crypt also contained numerous other smaller jade objects, several pieces of pottery, numerous jaguar and cougar skins and clothes and other perishables. In a ceremonial style typical of Altun Ha, the entire burial site and the corpse was impregnated with red pigment. The Jade Head of Kinich Ahau was famous almost from the moment of its discovery. It appears on the nation's currency and on our stamps. READ MORE ABOUT THE FAMOUS JADE HEAD >> HERE
