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WoWasis scuba review: The Top 4 dive spots in Roatan, Honduras

Written By: herbrunbridge - Aug• 18•14
Courtesy Roatan Marine Park

Courtesy Roatan Marine Park

Today’s WoWasis guest blog was written by Michele “Mish” Akel, co-owner of Native Sons Dive Shop in Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras. She’s been diving there since 1996, but that’s not quite as long as her husband and co-owner Alvin Jackson has. His first dive there was 1973! Alvin is the President of the Roatan Marine Park and very dedicated to preserving Roatan’s fragile environment. These are his four favorite dive sites. For more information, contact Native Sons Dive Shop (see below).

The diving around Roatan is world class and thanks to the Roatan Marine Park the reef is still very healthy with plenty of reef life to please our visitors. We have turtles everywhere, eels, rays, lobster, groupers, parrot fish etc., and then all the wonderful macro critters. You will not be disappointed!

1) Texas – This is the best dive site on Roatan. It is at the end of the island where the currents keep the reef wonderfully healthy and you will see plenty of fish life; groupers, wrasse, angels, hogfish , huge barracuda. If you get out far enough you will also see the elusive Sargassum triggerfish that is not found anywhere else around Roatan. If you are keen on photography bring your wide angled lens for this dive.

2) Half Moon Bay Wall – Right out the front of Native Sons is one of the best walls off the island. There are 3 moorings here, Dixie’s, Half Moon Bay and Divemaster’s Choice. They are all great dives and go from 10ft to way deeper than we would ever take you. Down deep are lots of gorgonions, huge orange elephant ear sponges, and lots of interesting overhangs, under which the corals are remarkably beautiful. In the shallows, look out for flamingo tongues on the fans and lobsters and crabs in the crevasses.

Courtesy  Roatan Marine Park

Courtesy Roatan Marine Park

3) Hole in the Wall – If you want to go deep, this is the site. Swim down through a large tunnel that goes through the wall and you come out at 110ft. Another 20 ft is our maximum depth and you hang out over the deepest blue you will ever see. There is no sign of the bottom here and it’s a great moment to contemplate life, the universe and everything while enjoying a touch of nitrogen narcosis. Back up in the shallows, while decompressing, swim through the Swiss cheese, a network of caves, tunnels and canyons, all filled with natural light, glassy sweepers, and with any luck, a scorpion fish or two. There is also a great cave, filled with silver-sides in the summer, with a large entrance and quite often king crab hiding on the ledges.

4) The Aguilar Wreck – This 210 foot cargo ship sits on the sand at 110 feet. It was sunk intentionally by Anthony’s Key Resort in 1997, broken into 3 by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and further rearranged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. It’s a great dive. As you go down you are met by huge friendly groupers and blue parrot fish. There is a resident eel and some wonderful coral has grown on the ship. Don’t forget to check out the garden eels covering the deep sand as far as you can see. This dive is usually done as a drift, starting at the wreck and then decompressing in the shallows and gradually making your way to Pillar Coral, to the west. For some reason, there is an area between these two sites where there are so many fish, Bermuda Chubb, black durgons, groupers, and schoolmasters, all hanging out at the top of the wall. What a great place to do a safety stop!

For more information, please contact Mish at:

NativeSonsOwners1aNative Sons Dive Shop
Half Moon Bay, West End
Roatan, Honduras
(504) 2445 4003
(504) 9670 6530
Email chilliesrtb@yahoo.com
Facebook Page: Native Sons Dive

 

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