The island
Sand and palms.
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A tiny sand island of white sand and a few palms in clear turquoise water, on top of a long, narrow shelf-like reef ringed by deep water. It is named after the laughing gulls that once nested there, and is a marine national park and part of the Belize Barrier Reef World Heritage Site since 1996. Visitors swim straight from the beach over shallow coral, among colourful fish, turtles and stingrays, and sometimes dolphins in the channel. The island has a coral restoration project, where rangers explain how they plant coral fragments to rebuild the reef. The island is small enough to walk round in minutes, with picnic tables and shelters, and no one lives there but the rangers, so trips come from Placencia for a full day of snorkelling and rest. The boat ride is about an hour across open water. Use licensed operators; sea trips are cancelled in rough weather, and the hurricane season runs from June to November. Do not touch or stand on coral, do not feed or touch marine life, and use reef-safe sunscreen.
Sand and palms.
Turtles and rays.
Reef replanting.
About 18 km east of Placencia, roughly an hour by boat
No, it is a national park with only rangers living there; visits are day trips from Placencia.