Laughing Bird Caye National Park is one of the gems in a string of pearls that is the Belize Barrier Reef World Heritage Site. It is a beautiful Belizean isle situated on the western side of the Victoria Channel, only 11 miles off the coast from Placencia Village in the Stann Creek District of Belize. A mini-atoll with a white sandy beach and its own miniature reef surrounding a natural swimming pool, is a snorkeler’s heaven, and a few minutes by boat from the Belize Reef. It’s a favorite stopover for reef kayakers and a great place to stop for a picnic.

Laughing Bird Caye – BelizeThis long narrow isle stands on an elongated ridge of reef known as a faro. A faro is an angular atoll on a continental shelf, also known as a shelf atoll. Like an atoll, a faro is steep sided and encloses a central lagoon. The Laughing Bird Faro is separated from the mainland, the barrier reef and other cayes by deep channels on all sides. Due to the uniqueness of the Caye, the Faro, and the abundant and diverse marine habitats and life, the Caye was declared a protected area in 1981 under the National Parks System Act. On 21 December, 1991, Laughing Bird Caye National Park was declared. Finally, in 1996 the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System was inscribed on the World Heritage List with Laughing Bird Caye National Park designated as one of the premiere protected areas within the World Heritage Site.

The uniqueness of this structure contributes to both the abundance and variety of coral habitats and marine life. The caye got its name from the Laughing Gull, Larus articilla. These birds, whose chirp sound like people laughing, once nested on the Northern end of the caye. Due to growing human disturbances in the mid 70’s and Hurricane Fefe, the gulls moved to breed on nearby undisturbed cayes. Today, under the management of SEA, the park is divided into three zones namely the Recreational zone, Buffer zone and the “Preservation zone also known as the Bird Restoration Zone.” Today we can now see a few Laughing Gulls returning along with Osprey, Brown Pelican, Magnificent Frigate, Herons and Melodious Blackbirds who nest within the preservation zone undisturbed by visitors. The island is covered with coconut trees and scattered coastal mangroves. Seven plant species have been recorded on the island:

• Coconut tree – Cocos nucifera

• Spider Lily – Hymenocallis littorallis

• Seaside Purslane – Sesuvium portulacastrum Euphorbia sp.

• Red mangrove – Rhizophora mangle

• Morning Glory – Ipomoea sp.

• Black mangrove – Avicennia germinans

The Gladden Spit & Silk Cayes Marine Reserve lies within the central region of the Barrier Reef about 36 km off the coast of Placencia Village. This area of Barrier Reef contains the best-developed and most continuous reef due to its elevation, good water quality, and modified wave regime. The southernmost tip of this area sticks out and is called The Elbow or Gladden Spit. Three small cayes – North Silk, Middle Silk and South Silk – lie south of Gladden Entrance just inside Queen Caye. A colony of terns has been recorded to nest on North Silk Caye.

Since the 1920s, fishermen have congregated at Gladden Spit on the Belize Barrier Reef to harvest mutton snapper and grouper during the ten-day period around full moon during the months of March to June. The fishermen often landed huge catches, and many of the fish were gravid (carrying eggs). Often the men noticed huge whale sharks swimming nearby, usually surrounded by milkiness in the water.

In 1997, a team of scientists and local fishermen found that the snappers came together to spawn, filling the water with milky eggs and sperm, and that the whale sharks — filter feeders — had come to eat the eggs — a combination of events that is both biologically important and thrilling. Mutton snappers, the most common commercial fin fish harvested in Belize, appear from March to June, during the same months as the Cubera snappers and Dog snappers. The latter two species produce particularly large, tasty eggs, which seems to be one of the primary motives for the presence of the whale sharks.

Some local tour operators from Placencia, the closest village to Gladden Spit, soon discovered the tourism potential of the predictable presence of whale sharks, and a new industry quickly grew up. In 2001, the site of the whale sharks was declared a protected area, Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Marine Reserve (GSSCMR). In 2002, Friends of Nature, now SEA, began to co-manage the reserve along with the Government of Belize. SEA manages whale shark tourism at Gladden Spit in Belize, with direct input from a whale shark working group made up of national stakeholders. Sets of guidelines to ensure a safe and ecologically-sound experience for everyone, including the whale sharks, have been developed.