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The Mesoamerican Reef is considered a Barrier Reef. The Belize reef is just one section of The MBRS (Mesoamerican barrier reef system) it is only 35% of the length.

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They have a bad opinion on the reef buy everyone is open to their own opinion.

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The Caribbean has warmed by about two degrees Fahrenheit during my lifetime. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases act as a sort of blanket around the earth, trapping heat that would otherwise be lost to space. Incredibly, 94 percent of this extra heat is going into the oceans, and it's not just coral reefs that are being affected. Thousands of species are rapidly migrating away from the Equator, trying to stay cool. This is creating new mixtures of plants and animals that are interacting in new and unpredictable ways.

Our goal as scientists isn't to save only endangered invertebrates like coral but to preserve the reefs that hundreds of millions of people depend on. Food, jobs, tourism revenue, recreation and buffers from coastal storms are just some of the value coastal communities get from healthy reefs.

I grew up in South Florida in the 1970s, when the reefs of the Florida Keys were still relatively healthy. Snorkeling just a foot or two above acres of golden elkhorn corals was like flying over golden fields of wheat. That is what inspired me to spend my life learning and teaching about the oceans. I was about 10 years old then.

By the time I graduated from high school, most of that coral splendor was gone. A disease linked to ocean warming wiped out about 99 percent of elkhorn coral colonies across the entire Caribbean - literally hundreds of millions of corals disappeared in a matter of months. This species and closely related staghorn corals had dominated Caribbean coral reefs for at least 5,000 years.

Things aren't getting any better. A few days ago, a colleague, Bill Precht, a coral reef scientist with an environmental consulting firm, sent me a note describing what he saw on a recent dive at Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It's typical of my summer correspondence from fellow scientists. Depressing.

"This reef is a coral graveyard," he wrote. "Lots of recently dead colonies now covered with a thin veil or sediment and turf algae."

So what can be done to protect corals and other marine animals from ocean warming? The obvious solution is to switch to solar and wind energy, now a cheaper source of electricity than coal. Although our economy is already making this shift, it's happening too slowly to avoid catastrophic warming. A revenue-neutral carbon tax is one effective mechanism to promote renewable energy sources. This solution has been championed by a bipartisan patchwork that includes the former NASA scientist James Hansen; the Republican elders James A. Baker, George P. Shultz and Henry Paulson; and my dad.

Despite all the loss and the looming threats, there is still so much left to conserve. Like the amazingly healthy Orbicella coral reefs I saw in the crystal-clear waters of the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, a few years ago, and the staghorn coral reefs within swimming distance of the beachfront hotels of Fort Lauderdale that are now threatened by an Army Corps of Engineers dredging project. There are also a few reefs at higher latitudes or in other lucky locations that are warming much more slowly and could hold out for decades or centuries.

I really don't know how this will all turn out. Corals and other creatures could adapt to their changing environments. People could radically reduce their carbon emissions. Yet both outcomes are unlikely, and reality is draining my ocean optimism. It isn't too late, but we need to act very soon.

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Opinion | My Depressing Summers in Belize

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The Caribbean has warmed by about two degrees Fahrenheit during my lifetime. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases act as a sort of blanket around the earth, trapping heat that would otherwise be lost to space. Incredibly, 94 percent of this extra heat is going into the oceans, and it's not just coral reefs that are being affected.

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Diving in the barrier reef.

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Scuba Diving Belize, Ambergris Caye, Part 1

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The reef is a major source of income for the country they can do tours and take people diving and snorkeling. Without the reef the debt for the country would increase

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In order to keep the Reef safe they have the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and they make everyone who wants to drive a boat have a special captions lisence and you have to know where certain breaks in the reef that way they don't destroy any parts oh the reef.

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the Barrier Reef is 300 meters off the shore of Main land which would be about an hour boat ride and about half a mile off the shore of Ambergris Caye which would be a 20 minute boat ride.

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The Belize Barrier Reef is home to thousands of species of plants and animals. Some examples include sixty-five species of corals, five hundred species of fish, whale sharks, Dolphins, crabs, seahorse, starfish, manatees, American Crocodiles, and many birds and Turtle species.

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The Great Blue hole is one of the most dived places in the chain of Reefs

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Diving Belize & The Great Blue Hole - Belize Diving Services

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Filmed in 2012 while diving with Belize Diving Services on the island of Caye Caulker, just south of Ambergris Caye, including a dive on The Great Blue Hole with formations made during the last Ice Age when sea levels were over 200 feet lower than today.

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The Bacalar Chico National Park and Marine Reserve, Blue Hole Natural Monument, Half Moon Caye Natural monument, South Water Caye Marine Reserve, Glover's Reef Marine Reserve, Laughing Bird Caye National Park, and Sapodilla Caye Marine Reserve.

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The Belize barrier reef is one of two barrier reefs in the western Hemisphere.

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The Barrier Reef is what keeps Belize form washing away it protects the land from major waves from massive storms

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The Mexico rocks is at the north end of the barrier reef. There is also the lighthouse Reef, turneffe Island Reef, and Glovers Reef.