iwna2016summer-online

INTERVAL WORLD Summer 2016 IntervalWorld.com

IN FOCUS

tretching nearly 700 miles from the northeastern tip of the Yucatán

Peninsula down to the Honduran Bay Islands, the Mesoamerican

Reef is the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, and the second-largest in

the world. The waters in and around it, which are easily accessible from both

and

are teeming with an array of marine life, making them

a diver’s paradise. Dip below the surface and you could chance upon a number of

species of turtles (hawksbill, loggerhead, leatherback, green, and more), hundreds

of kinds of fish, sharks, and technicolored displays of coral.

In particular, divers should be on the lookout for whale sharks. Despite the name,

these mammoth creatures are actually fish — the biggest on Earth, reaching lengths

of up to 40 feet. But don’t be afraid to swim alongside one of these gentle giants:

They normally travel solo, and their dietary preference is a hearty meal of plankton.

Simon Pierce/Alamy Stock Photo

AN UP-CLOSE LOOK FROM

AT THE

Mesoamerican

Reef