Roatan's dive sites
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Ocean Connections is ideally situated
inside the fringing coral reef that skirts the length
of West End and West Bay on the western tip of Roatan.
From our dock at the dive center you can easily see
the reef's formation; turtle grass shallows lead to
waves gently breaking on the reef crest, beyond which
the reef drops into the deep blue of the Cayman Trench.
With just a five minute boat ride you can be diving
on one of our spectacular reef walls, vibrant with coral
and tropical fish
life. Roatan's reef is part of the meso-american
reef system that stretches nearly 700 miles from the
northern tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to
the Bay Islands here in Honduras. 95% of the fish species
found in the caribbean are found here, including the
giant whale shark,
the largest fish in the world.
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The majority of the diving we do takes place
in the West End
- Sandy Bay Marine Reserve. This reserve encompasses over forty dive sites where
spear fishing, anchoring and the collection of conch and lobster
is prohibited. The Roatan Marine Park was officially established
in 2005 and using funds gained from local tourism and grants
from USAID, CORAL and WWF replaced all the
marine infrastructure, actively patrol this area and support
the community through educational programs.
We visit all of the sites within the Roatan Marine Park and
commonly travel to the more exotic spots around Roatan as
well. Please have a look at our dive
site map and site descriptions below.
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Dive Site Features
The topography and marine life found in these
dive sites varies widely and has something to offer
every scuba diver. Most of the dive sites are a short
boat ride away ( 5-15 min) and the wall is typically
found very close to shore allowing both wall dives and
shallower reef dives on the same site. Below you will
find a general description of the areas of the Roatan
Marine Park that we dive on a daily basis. (click here
to see a map of Roatan's
dive sites.) |
Roatan dive sites - The Western
tip of Roatan
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Click
here for a dive video of West End Wall.
Drift dives are the best in Roatan at these
dive sites, deep water and converging currents allow
us a chance to see the elusive Hammerhead as well as
other species only found in this area, such as the Sargassum
Triggerfish. The deep reef walls are full of gorgonians
and soft coral as well as home to large barrel sponges,
schools of jacks, grouper, snapper and pelagic species
such as Ocean Triggerfish and Amber Jacks. The western
tip of Roatan is home to the dive sites West End Wall,
Pablo's Place and Texas. This dive can be started at
either Pablo's place or West End Wall with both dives
usually finishing of at the dive site Texas, which is
named because of the extremely large barrel sponges
found there.
Pablo's place is famous for it's large
black gorgonians, bushy black corals and resident tiger
and black groupers. The wall drops down to over 50m
and these deep water corals are home for macro size
shrimp and crabs as well as large schools of creole
wrasse. Pelagics cruise this area and cero, barracuda,
amber and crevale jacks are a common sight.
West End Wall is on the lee side of
the plateau where an underwater ridge slopes down to
the the western tip of the reef. Groups of dog snapper
and horse eye jacks congregate in the waters here and
most of the reef fish in Roatan can be found on this
site. It is also home to the shipwreck of the Josie
J, a small cargo boat that sunk in front of West Bay
and now lies in 50m of water.
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Roatan dive sites - Shipwrecks
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click
here for a dive video of the Odyssey
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El Aguila |
The Odyssey |
Josie J |
Roatan has many shipwrecks, some intentional
sinkings and some not. The El Aguila and the Odyssey
are both ships sunk deliberately to encourage reef growth
and for wreck
diving training purposes. Both ships lie in 30 m/110
ft of water and are accessible from our dive shop. The
Prince Albert and Mr Bud Wrecks were sunk on the south
side earlier in Roatan's dive history and the prolific
growth of soft coral is home to sea horses and flamingo
tongue snails. Day trips to either of these can be arranged
at the dive shop.
One of the un-intentional sinkings
was a cargo ship named the Josie J which sunk in between
50 and 70 meters of water in front of West Bay. This
wreck is reserved for those divers with advanced training.
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Roatan Dive Sites - Mandy's Eel Garden to Seaquest
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| Sloping sand and shallow reef zones
make this area popular for underwater
photography as well as training dives for PADI courses.
Deep dives are interesting in this area due mostly to
eagle rays and stingrays feeding in the deep sand flats.
There is also a good chance of seeing turtles here as
well. |
Turtle Crossing to Lighthouse
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These diverse sites have both deep and shallow
reef formations as well as access to the lagoon, which
is an important habitat for juvenile reef
fish and is frequented by Eagle Rays. Many of the
dives in this area include time spent in the shallow
water reef sections which have prolific coral growth
and are home to many unique species.
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If wall dives are your favorite, then
Roatan is the place for you! These sites are characterized
by steep reef walls descending down to 60 meters, accompanied
by many swim through's, small cave systems and underwater
canyons. This area is also home to two of the three
shipwrecks accessible from West End.
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Dive
Packages
Our divers stay at the Sea Breeze Inn, just across the street from the dive shop and home to the Cannibal Cafe. |
About
Roatan
The beautiful Caribbean island of Roatan in the Bay Islands of Honduras offers some of the world's best SCUBA diving. The island is surrounded by the world's second largest coral reef, fringing most of the shoreline. This provides calm, clear beaches for swimming and snorkeling, and many varieties of sea life. Click to learn more... |
Galleries
Click here to check out some pictures of scuba diving, reef fish and creatures found here in in West End as well as pictures of Roatan and La Ceiba. |
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