Roatan and Utila Honduras Trip Report
May 28, 2022 To June 4, 2022
Camera Gear: Canon 5D Mark IV in a Nauticam Housing with Sea and Sea YS-D3 Strobes, 11-24mm, 8-15mm fisheye, 16-35mm, and 100mm macro EF lenses.
Honduras is nestled between Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. The Pacific coast is on the south side and the Caribbean coast is on the north side of this Central American country. Off the shores of Honduras consists of 8 islands and 53 small cays. Some of the Bay Islands (Isla de la Bahia) that we had the pleasure of diving on this trip were Roatan, Cayos Cochinos, and Utila, which are all on the Caribbean side. This region is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is the second largest barrier reef in the world and is also a Marine Protected Area. The waters here offer divers endless photo opportunities and memorable diving experiences (for both beginner and advanced divers). Beautiful healthy reefs, drift dives, caverns, walls, and an abundance of sea critters big and small are bountiful here.
Our Week-Long Adventure
Our Bluewater Travel Underwater clickers touched down at the RTB airport where we were greeted by a friendly transportation service, who shuttled us over to our lovely "home" for the week, the Roatan Aggressor. We all arrived before boarding time, so we enjoyed pizza and cocktails at Romeo's restaurant right next door to the Aggressor. At 3:30 PM sharp, the crew welcomed us with big smiles and a loud ring of the bell as we hopped onboard.
I have never been on an Aggressor before, and I found this vessel to be quite impressive. This incredible yacht came fully equipped with a media center located in the restaurant where we held daily discussions on wide angle/macro photography, composition, lighting, photo editing, and photo/video viewings. The rooms are cozy and come equipped with private bathrooms. It also has a hot tub located on the sun deck, which was PERFECT for warming our cores after a day of multiple dives (the water temp during the week was roughly 82 degrees). The crew members are all incredibly knowledgeable about the diving locations and conditions, and they are fantastic spotters! Apparently, they are amazing artists as well (they drew the most elaborate and colorful maps for our dive briefings. I think it’s worth mentioning that the food was phenomenal as well! Overall, the crew gave us fintastic service (as they like to call it, and I couldn't agree more)!
ROATAN
On the first day of diving, we double dipped in Valley of the Kings off the southern coast of Roatan and then we headed towards the coast of West Bay where we did two-day dives and one night dive at Tavianna's Wall. On a side note: we essentially double-dipped on most of the dive sites which gave us plenty of opportunities to take both wide-angle and macro shots, which was great for capturing different perspectives!
Valley of the Kings is renowned for a large fissure that cuts into the middle of a vertical wall that is decorated with beautiful outcrops of soft and hard corals, especially gorgonians and pillar corals. This was a wonderful dive site for all of us to get ourselves reacquainted with our gear and the ocean.
Our next stop was Tavianna's Wall. This site has a large reef with sandy patches and several drop-offs. Tavianna's Wall is a turtle hotspot, and this is where we spotted our first hawksbill turtle.
Every day, each of us would jot down on the Critter Board what kind of animals we encountered. We found Midnight Blue Parrotfish, large Cubera Snapper, Spotted Cleaner Shrimp, Squat Anemone, Green Moray Eel, Scorpionfish, Flounder, plenty of Flamingo Tongue, and Yellowhead Jawfish at both dive sites. Our first night dive was in Tavianna's Wall where octopuses, lobsters, and crabs are a common sitting. I did not do any night dives on this trip because I started to develop sinus issues, but thankfully one of our Bluewater Travel clickers was able to capture some great clips with her GoPro!
We stayed in this area for a bit and waited for a fellow traveler to join us via skiff (flight issues). Once he came on board, we were off to our next dive spots: El Aguila (The Eagle) Wreck and Half Moon Bay off the northwest portion of Roatan. El Aguila rests on a sandy bottom at about 100 feet. The wreck was once a large 230ft freighter. It actually sank around Utila Key and Anthony's Key Resort brought it to the bay to make it a spectacular diving attraction that is fun to swim through and explore. El Aguila is right next to a beautiful sloping reef where we found a shy seahorse, anemones, and adorable Pederson Cleaner Shrimp. We also witnessed a ton of cool cleaning action! Blue Neon Gobies clean the inside of a Midnight Blue Parrotfish's mouth, barracuda and grouper visiting their dentists as well. After a couple of dives in Half Moon, we cruised on over to Cayos Cochinos.
CAYOS COCHINOS
Coco Grande dive site in Cayos Cochinos features a spectacular topography of giant seamounts formed by a range of underwater mountains that are blanketed by pristine reef life. Healthy beautiful coral, including plenty of giant red barrel sponge corals. Here, our captain showed me a feather star that he has been visiting for more than 25 years (even though their lifespan averages 15 years) perched on a sea fan coral at a depth of 86ft! We discovered a napping Nurse shark tucked away in a little grotto, Ocean Triggerfish guarding their nests, and large schooling jacks. We all really enjoyed this location, I think mainly because of the health of the reef. It seemed so untouched.
UTILA
Then we set sail to Utila. Utila is one of the smallest Bay Islands of Honduras. All of the sites had stunning coral reef scapes, and each location we visited offered something unique. Our dive spots were Ted's Point, Jack Neal's, Spanish Bay, The Cannery Banks, and the Pinnacle. We did a live drop at Ted's Point and saw our first stargazer fish! It was so brilliantly camouflaged into the sand that we couldn't see it--even when our divemaster drew a circle around it in the sand. Don't let it SHOCK you! Stargazers have electric organs to zap their prey.
Jack Neal's was considered to be a muck dive. Here we saw Peacock Flounder, large hermit crabs, and blennies. Spanish Bay was a night dive, and here we saw a jellyfish and a night brittle star. The following morning, we splashed into Cannery Bank. The Cannery is a small seamount teaming with life: gorgeous Bluebell Tunicates are peppered along the reef and schools of creole wrasse were everywhere. It is a great place to see pelagics, and we really enjoyed three curious and playful Nurse Sharks during our entire dive.
BACK TO ROATAN
After a couple of days in Utila, we returned back to the south side of Roatan to dive Cara a Cara (Face to Face) so we could get some face-time action with the local reef sharks. Most of the females were quite large and pregnant. This was a shark-feeding dive that required a negative entry because of the current. When our dive time was up, we all bobbled together at the surface waiting for the Aggressor to pick us up as we were drifting. My favorite part about this dive, apart from the sharks, is the energy everyone exudes after diving with them. It's just an incredible experience.
Just two more days of diving in paradise before we head back to our realities. Next stop, Mary's Place. Located on the southern side of Roatan, this dive site is considered to be a world-class diving destination. The topography of Mary's Place is absolutely breathtaking! We swam through a narrow crevice between the deep coral canyons that are adorned with colorful coral outcroppings made up of giant tube and barrel sponges and gorgonians. We also found spotted drums, creole wrasse, and other reef fish living in the coral heads in the shallows.
As much as I wanted to stay at Mary's Place, I was excited to see what was in-store for us at our next location, Mr. Bud's. Mr. Bud's is a 75ft cargo ship that was intentionally sunk and set upright next to a reef. In the main room, lives a small school of silversides. We had a blast swimming through them to watch them undulate in synchrony. At the base of the bow, we found a large Green Moray Eel. We were so focused on the eel that we barely noticed a Yellow Long Snout seahorse gliding gracefully from one carnation coral to the next. Moments later, we found another brown one tethered to a coral in the reef. The sandy bottom was also home to Yellow Head jawfish, and a very large manta shrimp. During the night, the octopuses came out of their dens and were easily spotted. Mr. Bud's was a fun dive. Insert video of octo
We ended our week of diving at 40th Point. 40th Point has a nice shallow reef top with sandy chutes and a sloping reef. We had a lot of wind during our trip as a tropical depression was brewing in the Yucatan and hot in our wake, and today was especially windy. I opted to return back to the Aggressor and prep my gear for the return home, so I could enjoy a day of land excursions with our group. Once everyone got back on board, we headed back to the dock. Some of us chose to stay on the boat and chill, while the rest of us chose to get some cuddle action with the sloths at the Monkey and Sloth Sanctuary. As our day was sunsetting, we all celebrated our week with a cocktail party and an awards ceremony on the sundeck. Five of our guests received an Iron Diver Award for completing all 26 dives! Then we all winded up where it all began, at Romeo's for dinner and a night cap.
On the final day, we went to a scenic resort, Silversides, to have a delicious breakfast before saying our goodbyes.
