The Bay Islands
offer the most amazing snorkeling spots, Visibility and
water clarity are superb.
The Great Mayan
Reef which starts in the Yucatan, continues through
Belize, and extends into the Bay Islands lies about 100
yards from our beaches. Much of the reef in this part of
the island has yet to be explored. You will encounter a
dazzling array of fish and other sea creatures among the
elkhorn, pillar, and brain coral.
Best Dive
and Snorkeling Sites
Roatan
West End Wall, which encompasses Peter’s
Place and Herbie’s Place, is great for diving
and snorkeling. The reef starts at the shore and extends
out 20 yds, where the wall drops off sharply from a ledge
at 15 ft. Visibility often exceeds 100 ft. Fishlife is
superb, with schools of horse-eye jacks, permits, and schoolmaster. Seas are
calm, with an occasional light current. No
spearfishing.
Guanaja
The Bayman Drop and Pinnacle are wall dives
off the north shore. The top of the wall is between 10 and
40 ft. The Pinnacle rises from 135 to 50 ft at the top,
where you’ll find large barrel sponges, azure vase sponges,
gorgonia and black coral. Do not enter the crack at
70 ft. Large black coral trees are found at 80 ft.
Good for diving and snorkeling. No collecting or
spearfishing.
Pavilions is a series of blind tunnels,
pillar corals and outcroppings between 30 and 60 ft. Soft
corals and sponges dominate the shallows. Beware of the
fire coral which seems hotter here than other parts of the
Caribbean. The site is off Michael’s Rock around the point
next to the Bayman Bay Club. Good for diving and
snorkeling.
Jader Trader is a 200-ft wreck lying
on its right side at 90 ft off the southwest side of
Guanaja. Big morays, schools of silversides, turtles and
barracuda are in residence. Seas average two to four ft
with a light current. Always good visibility. For
experienced divers.
Additional dives along Guanaja’s barrier reef are
Eel’s Garden off the Bayman Bay Club shore, Black
Rock Canyons, a maze of tunnels and canyons, Jim’s
Silverlode, a sheer wall off southwest cay with huge
sponges and soft corals. The Cut branches out into
caverns and tunnels.
Waterfall Reef, the
site of a huge black coral tree growing off the wall at 45
ft (top of the dive is five ft), takes its name from a
series of overhangs with soft bushy corals which appear to
cascade down the slope. Numerous anemones, big vase sponges
and lots of fish make Waterfall a photographers’ favorite.
Good visibility.
 Cayos
Cochinos
Cayos Cochinos are a group of 13 small islands
deemed a Biological Reserve and managed, in part, by the
Smithsonian Institution to conduct a scientific study of
the reef. The park is patrolled by park rangers. Diving and
snorkeling from the shore or by boat is outstanding.
Utila
Utila, fringed by yet-unnamed virgin reefs, caves
and canyons, offers some of the best shore diving and
snorkeling in the Caribbean. Wildlife is exceptional, with
turtles, eagle rays, southern sting rays and tropicals.
Offshore sites are a 15-45-minute boat ride. The shore
dives lie about 150 yds out.
Barbaretta
Barbaretta Wall off Barbaretta island, a
favorite snorkeling- picnic spot between Guanaja and
Roatan, is a wonderland of barrel sponges and soft corals.
The wall stretches for a mile.
Pigeon Cays
Pigeon Cays are a small cluster of islands
surrounded by shallow protected reefs, all perfect for
snorkeling.
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