Dive Sites

Prince Albert Caribe Pointe Caribe Wall Mr. Bud Mary’s Place Idabel

Calvin’s Crack Pirate’s Pointe Valley of the Kings Frenchman’s Gold Chain Shark Dive Gallery

Roatan is blessed with (here comes another of my favorite words) a plethora of beautiful dive sites and they will range from 25 feet to bye bye! There is something around this island for most any skill level diver and, of course, photographers. No one article could possibly cover them all, and no single dive trip could possibly get to them all. Oddly enough, some of the best areas I’ve been to are on the previously seldom visited north side. Originally,most of the resorts except for Anthony’s Key and Spyglass Hill (now long gone) opted to settle on the south side and accessibility became a major issue since you would have to boat around the entire island to get there. I imagine the decision to locate on the south side is due to the larger amount of sites and the less predictable weather on the north. However, that has all changed and the North side has several locations. I will be back down in Roatan next month to visit Turquoise Bay and dive this area. Imagine free swimming 8 foot morays, swim through channels, and pure white carpet corals the size of cars.

That aside,the majority of the better known sites are on the south side, and they are nothing to yawn at.

French Cut is right at the edge of the harbour and a good ‘bad day’ dive. It starts inside a barrier in 15 feet of murky water, and you’re sure to start out wondering if your dive guides have lost their collective minds. However, even in the murk while you’re searching for the ‘cut’ to the outside, there are a lot of invertebrates and arrow crabs, etc. to photograph. Just outside the cut in about 40 feet of water along the slope heading for the right hand wall, you will sometimes find a very beautiful and seldom seen blue anemone. These puppies are sometimes harder to spot than ‘normal’ colors as can be seen by the lower contrast with it’s surroundings. Once outside, the water clears up spectacularly and there is a wall to either side. You can only do one side per dive so you have to make this twice. You might wonder if it’s worth doing both sides. After all, coming from the same cut, they must be similar. Fraid not! They are quite different from each other. The wall to the right is steeper and deeper, while the wall to the left has more of a cave and channel makeup. If weather forces you inside the reef more than once you will be glad to see both.

Mary’s Place is an unusual dive and currently protected. Due to too many divers and too little care over the years, a lot of the beautiful growth inside Mary’s was destroyed. Divers are only allowed to visit it once per trip now to protect the soft corals that line the cut. Mary’s sits on the outside edge of the main reef, and, in fact, is a section of the old reef that was broken off in prehistoric times by volcanic or seismic activity. Essentially, it is just a huge chunk of reef that cracked away leaving a gap wide enough to swim through. You swim down a mooring line in 25 feet of water and enter the fissure at about 40 feet. The fissure is open at the top and follows reasonably straight to exit the other side, but the best part is two thirds of the way through where there’s a tunnel to the left which leads you down to an exit on the outside of the reef at 90 feet. As you exit there is a small pinnacle where you can hang ten and look down into the dark blue depths below. If you’re lucky, you may get to see large rays or turtles cruising by. At this point you can either reenter the tunnel and retrace your ‘tracks’ or, more likely, swim around the outside wall to the far end of the fissure and return back to your start that way. I always like to finish Mary’s Place hanging out in the soft coral infested channels just outside the entrance. Some of this area is just as pretty as Mary’s itself. Photographers beware - no cameras allowed. In an effort to protect the corals and allow regrowth, cameras are banned.


	The Prince Albert is one of the best dives in the Caribbean. It is a 140 foot island trader that is shallow and easily accessible. There is another page devoted to it alone, but it certainly is highly recommended for all experience levels of divers.

There are myriad dives along the wall which extends the length of the south side - some with names - some not. They all have basically the same dive profile which is to moor in 20 to 30 feet of water, swim away from shore to the dropoff, drop down to 60 to 90 feet, and follow the wall either way. I don’t mean to minimize their beauty or individuality in any way, but it’s really hard to find a place that’s not worth diving. Each has caves and dropoffs and funnels to the top and intrigueing overhangs. Yes, there are some you might not want to visit over twice on a trip, but I still remember the thrill of dropping down that little staghorn channel on ‘Gold Chain’ reef and coasting out over the blue deep water. And, remarkably, it still looks the same as it did 20 years ago. I still recognize certain pieces of coral I photographed that long ago.

Once your dive at depth is over, it’s always nice to pull back up into the short water and search for the inhabitants of the shallow reef. This is where you get up close and personal to trumpet fish, filefish, and stone fish. Sometimes, you can even meet an inquisitive grouper close to your own size to chat with.Some divers tend to feel like they are being punished by the needed deco safety stops, but I often find some of the most interesting critters of the dive while I’m ‘resting’ and burning off the last of my air.







	Prince Albert Caribe Pointe Caribe Wall Mr. Bud Mary’s Place Idabel Calvin’s Crack Pirate’s Pointe Valley of the Kings Frenchman’s Gold Chain Shark Dive Gallery