This story appears in the October 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine. In the mangroves off the east coast of Central America, at the edge of the Mesoamerican Reef, the world is divided in ...
Shared by the four nations of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, the Mesoamerican Reef is the largest ... the western Atlantic in barrier and fringing reefs, atolls and patch corals, lagoons, ...
The second largest reef system, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, runs just off the coast of Cozumel, making it a premier dive destination. Cozumel is also known for its beaches and for being the ...
including the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef – the largest reef system in the Western Hemisphere – and coastal marine systems of Cuba. It also hosts the largest intact tracts of seagrass and mangrove in ...
Established to protect and preserve the delicate ecosystems found beneath the waves, the park spans an impressive area along the Mesoamerican Reef, the second-largest barrier reef system in the world.