Top Sites Roatan - The Seamounts of Cayos Cochinos
Do you love diving in Roatan, have you been to all the best dive sites the island has to offer? We doubt that as there are just too many. However there are still some that are less frequented than others. The seamounts of Cayos Cochinos (a deep reef formed by underwater mountain ranges) called Roatan Banks, which is located halfway between Roatan and Cayos Cochinos (a group of islands located between Roatan and the mainland of Honduras). This is a relatively unexplored area and you are basically guaranteed a fantastic dive, with loads of fish, current, and amazing, healthy, vibrant coral. We’ve been lucky enough to spot sharks and massive eagle rays, as well as large schools of creole wrasse, southern sennet and horse-eye jack.
The seamounts of Cayos Cochinos are a special two-tank trip that will leave you in awe. As the seamounts are located 18 miles off the point of Roatan, the trip is very weather dependent, but it's an awesome trip and an incredible experience. We do two dives out at the seamounts and go fishing during the surface interval, so there's a good chance for fresh sashimi between dives. This is the one trip where we don't stick to a strict time schedule, so if the fishing is good or a whaleshark, or or a pod of dolphins pops up we are there to enjoy it! The trip normally heads out around 8:00AM, and we are back some time between 1:30 and 2PM.
The seamounts trip is $110 for a two-tank trip, including the first dive on Enriched Air Nitrox if you're certified for it. We take minimum 4 people, maximum eight, but believe us, it's really easy to get that together. The seamounts can have strong currents, so you need to be an advanced diver for this trip. Check out UMI Productions' video for the seamounts of Cayos Cochinos, as well as their videos for the other dive sites we have to offer, and start planning your trip to Roatan!
Drift Diving at West End Wall
Are you ready for a dive to West End Wall?
West End Wall is one of our top requested dive sites, largely due to its proximity to The Point. Located just off West Bay, West End Wall is where we can experience some of the strongest currents on the island, making it the perfect place for large schools of fish. The currents bring in nutrient rich water that make it the ideal feeding ground. From big schools of blue creole wrasse, snappers and jacks, this site shows us what a vibrant and diverse marine life Roatan has to offer.
Due to the flowing current, this is an ideal site for a drift dive, where we enter the water, descend along the wall, and head in the same direction as the flow of the current. This type of dive can be very enjoyable as it allows us to effortlessly cruise along the wall. Most often for this site, we go in a southerly direction towards the very end of the island. Given potentially strong currents, depending on the daily conditions, we consider this a site for more advanced divers.
Water is great at the moment book your dive trip early to avoid disappointment! info@roatandivers.com
Enjoy!
Scuba Diving at the Seamounts of Cayos Cochinos
Guys, it's getting hot right now. And still. And you know what that means...special trips to the seamounts of Cayos Cochinos will be getting underway again!
The seamounts of Cayos Cochinos are located 29 km/18 miles off the western point of Roatan and are a part of a series of underwater mountains that rise up between Roatan and Cayos Cochinos. None of the mounts break the surface, with the diveable mounts peaking between 21m/70ft and 12m/40 feet in depth. With all the currents moving through that area and the nutrient-rich water swelling up from the depths, the coral at the seamounts is healthy and vibrant, and you have the opportunity to see lots of different schools of fishing hanging out off the reef as they feed.
When the weather is right for it, we run special two-tank charter trips to the seamounts of Cayos Cochinos. We do two fabulous dives and spend our surface interval fishing and looking for whalesharks and dolphins. As the currents can be strong, it's important to be an experienced and comfortable diver certified to 30m/100ft to ensure that you get the most out of your experience. So check out our video of the seamounts and see if this trip sounds fun to you!
Please contact us for more information regarding these special two-tank trips, and let us help you experience the best of the Bay Islands!
Scuba Diving at Lighthouse Reef
We are so lucky to live and dive on Roatan. The entire island is surrounded by amazing dive sites with stunning walls, sandy chutes and coral plateaus, and we have over thirty dive sites within a ten minute boat ride from West End alone.
One of our favorite dive sites is Lighthouse Reef, located just a minute boat ride away. Don't be fooled by its closeness, Lighthouse Reef provides amazing walls, schools of fish and some cool macro critters to be on the lookout for.
Come enjoy a dive at Lighthouse Reef with Roatan Divers and see more of the beautiful scuba diving that Roatan has to offer!
Roatan's Awesome Macro Diving
Now, we know that Roatan is famous for it's cool topography, healthy coral and abundance of turtles and schools of fish, but did you know that Roatan has interesting macro life as well?
Follow us as we explore Roatan's macro world at Willy's Wonder, Butcher's Bank and Lighthouse Reef. Whether you're over the sand or on the wall, there are always amazing things to see!
What are you waiting for? Head down to Roatan and see it for yourselves!
Scuba Diving at Butcher's Bank
One of the best things about the scuba diving on Roatan is the different topographies that we have access to. You've seen Fish Den and Overheat Reef to the east of West End, so let's head towards West Bay now, shall we?
Butcher's Bank is a dive site off of West Bay, and it's loaded with beautiful hard and soft coral, including nice big sponges for hawksbill turtles and angelfish to munch on. Different sand chutes and sand dwelling creatures keep things extra interesting, so keep your eyes peeled for marine animals big and small.
Come and enjoy the best of Caribbean scuba diving and hop on over to Roatan!
Like what you see? Remember to support the Roatan Marine Park so that they can continue to protect our beautiful Roatan reefs!
Scuba Diving at Overheat Reef
Overheat Reef has, over the past three years, continuously been named one of our favorite dive sites. We love it. We love it so much. It doesn't matter the weather, the current, the visibility...Overheat Reef will always be one of our favorite sites for scuba diving on Roatan.
Watching this video, can you blame us? The abundance of hard and soft coral and sheer amount of schools of fish is just phenomenal, and you have a great chance of seeing turtles there. Come rain or shine, you will always find us at Overheat Reef. Enjoy!
As always, make sure to support the Roatan Marine Park in their continuous work to protect our beautiful reefs. The Roatan Marine Park puts in all the dive moorings, they run patrols to protect the local wildlife and work with the local community to become a conservation oriented island, so they're very important to Roatan. You can purchase daily tickets for $3 or yearly bracelet for $10 from your local dive center or from the Roatan Marine Park Eco Store in West End.
