← All sites

The Elbow, Turneffe

Turneffe Atoll, Belize · 15–40m · advanced · exposed

Current-swept southern tip of Turneffe Atoll where snapper school in the thousands.

Conditions today

Retrieved · refreshed hourly

marginal

Marginal — 0.8m effective waves made worse by short-period chop.

Limiting factor: period

Wave height
0.7–0.8m
Wave period
4.3–4.8s
Wind chop
0.3–0.5m
Sea temp
30–30.4°C

Ranges span today's hours. Wave height here is the raw sea state — the rating scales it for how exposed the site is. Exposed — open water with nothing to block the swell, so it is scored at full height.

Next few days

  • TodayMarginal — 0.8m effective waves made worse by short-period chop.marginal
  • SundayMarginal — 0.6m effective waves made worse by short-period chop.marginal
  • MondayMarginal — 0.6m effective waves made worse by short-period chop.marginal

Each day is scored over its morning dive window, the same as today's rating.

Dive briefing

AI-generated

This is an advanced site at the exposed southern tip where you'll work with current-swept depths between 15 and 40 metres. Conditions are marginal today: the raw swell is 0.7–0.8 metres with wind waves adding 0.3–0.5 metres, but short-period chop is the limiting factor. Water sits at 30–30.4°C. You'll need solid buoyancy and current awareness, and the chop will test your composure, but it remains diveable for the rating level.

Divers commonly log Atlantic blue tangs, stoplight and striped parrotfish, and Caribbean bluehead wrasses here. Great barracuda are often recorded, along with grey and French angelfish. The schooling snapper the site is known for aren't listed in recent sightings data, though that reflects what people have logged rather than what's present. Plan your air consumption around the current and depths, and brief on exit procedures before you descend.

Written by Claude (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) from the rating, forecast, and sightings on this page — it has no other source and cannot look anything up. Treat it as a summary, not as local knowledge.

Commonly seen here

Most-recorded species near this site, ranked by research-grade iNaturalist sightings from divers, snorkelers, and naturalists.

Species come from iNaturalist — research-grade sightings logged by divers, snorkelers, and naturalists nearby. The ranking reflects what people photograph most, not guaranteed abundance. Ask a local operator what's actually being seen. Species names link to iNaturalist for range maps, seasonality and more photos. Photos by iNaturalist contributors under Creative Commons licences — individual credit on hover.