Roatan scuba diving gives you a little bit of everything. Walls, wrecks, swimthroughs, sandy flats, macro life, turtles, eagle rays, and the kind of clear blue water that makes you check your gauges twice because you forgot you were underwater.
We’re based in Half Moon Bay, West End, Roatan, with some of the island’s best dive sites just a short boat ride from the shop. Some are mellow and shallow. Some need good buoyancy, calm breathing, and a bit more experience. That’s part of what makes diving here so good.
Roatan sits on the Mesoamerican Reef, the second largest barrier reef system in the world. The Roatan Marine Park has helped protect this reef since 2005, and we strongly encourage our guests to support the park by buying the RMP bracelet. It’s USD $10, and it goes toward protecting the reef we all came here to enjoy.
The Point
The Point is made up of four dive sites: Black Rock, West End Wall, Texas, and Pablo’s Place. We choose the starting point based on weather, current, and what the group is ready for that day.
This is where currents from the north and south shores meet over a long plateau stretching out from the island. You can drift along Pablo’s Place, cruise the steep slopes of West End Wall, or explore the Texas flats with giant barrel sponges, snapper, and sargassum triggerfish moving through the current.
It’s a big dive. The surface conditions and current can be stronger than our normal West End dives, so The Point is best for more experienced divers with good buoyancy and comfort in moving water.
Tabyana’s, SeaQuest, Three Brothers, and Turtle Crossing
These are great dives to ease into your week in Roatan. You’ll cruise over sandy flats, follow the mini-wall, and keep an eye out for stingrays, turtles, grouper, and small reef life hiding in the coral.
The deep sand shelf sits around 24m / 80ft, but these sites also give us plenty of shallow reef to explore toward the end of the dive. They’re calm, scenic, and a solid first dive after travel day.
Lighthouse, Moonlight, and Dixie’s Place
These shallow dive sites are close to the shop and full of life. They’re a short boat ride from Half Moon Bay and a good fit for most certified divers.
You’ve got easy shallow sections, access to a deeper wall, and a good chance of seeing hawksbill turtles, black grouper, and plenty of reef fish. Nice and easy. Still plenty to see.
Canyon Reef
Canyon Reef starts shallow, then runs through a series of sandy cuts and coral canyons that bottom out around 18m / 60ft. You can swim up and down the channels, drift toward the slope, or follow the shallow reef back to the boat.
Look out over the sand for eagle rays and other larger marine life passing through. Then slow down near the soft corals and see what tiny creatures you can find. This site is best for intermediate and experienced divers.
Overheat Reef and Green Outhouse
Overheat Reef starts in the shallows, where we often see large snapper, squid, free-swimming eels, and healthy coral coverage. Sand channels lead out toward the wall, with cleaning stations, grouper, crabs, and small creatures tucked into the reef.
The northern part of this wall is one of the healthier coral sections in the Roatan Marine Park. We can also tailor this dive for different experience levels, which makes it a good second tank after El Aguila.
El Aguila Wreck
El Aguila is a 220ft cargo ship scuttled by Anthony’s Key Resort in 1997. Hurricane Mitch split the wreck into three sections in 1998, which made the site even more interesting to explore.
We usually work from stern to bow, spending around 15 minutes on the wreck before moving to the wall and finishing the dive in shallower water. There are swimthroughs for divers with the right experience, plus garden eels around the stern, a resident green moray, and big grouper and snapper around the wreck.
This is an experienced diver site. Good air consumption and buoyancy control are important, and because El Aguila is popular, you need to stay aware of boat and diver traffic.
Pro tip: Nitrox is a great choice for El Aguila if you want to make the most of your no-decompression time.
Hole in the Wall
Hole in the Wall is one of Roatan’s most famous dive sites, and for good reason. The dive starts with a sand chute that drops down toward the actual hole in the wall, where the reef opens into deep blue water.
This is one of the deeper dives on our schedule, with a maximum depth of 40m / 130ft. There are also shallow swimthroughs, sandy patches, reef channels, and a small cave system where you may find silversides, glassy sweepers, octopus, and small blennies tucked into the darker corners.
Bring a flashlight. Keep your fins off the sand. This site is best enjoyed by experienced divers with strong buoyancy, especially if you’re exploring the deeper section and swimthroughs.
Important: Do not enter overhead environments without the right training and guidance.
Blue Channel
Blue Channel has a different feel from the surrounding reef. You start along a sloping wall, then move through a channel that cuts back toward the shallow reef.
The swimthroughs, overhangs, and rubble patches make this a fun dive for spotting marine life. Look for green morays, juvenile spotted drums, pipefish, goatfish, snapper, and sometimes eagle rays passing through.
In August and September, the southern wall can fill with silversides so thick you can barely see a few feet ahead. It’s a good dive for a range of experience levels, and the shallow walls are also great for snorkelling.
Half Moon Bay Wall
This one is right outside the shop. Half Moon Bay Wall gives you beautiful reef, easy access, and plenty of ways to shape the dive depending on current and diver comfort.
You can cruise along the wall, duck through swimthroughs, follow channels back into the shallows, and meander over coral fingers on top of the reef. On a strong northbound current, we can drift across several dive sites in one dive.
It’s suitable for most certified divers when conditions are right.
Gibson Bight
Gibson Bight does not always get the hype it deserves. It has swimthroughs, chimneys, channels, overhangs, and enough variety to keep the whole dive interesting.
When we run it deeper, we can visit the “mini Mary’s Place” crack around 27m / 90ft. The boat channel can also feel like a smaller version of Spooky Channel when conditions line up.
Watch for eagle rays in the deep, morays in the overhangs, and crabs hiding in the reef. Best for intermediate and advanced divers.
Pillar Coral
Pillar Coral sits between Overheat Reef to the south and El Aguila to the north. The site is named after a coral pinnacle that rises off the wall, topping out around 27m / 90ft.
It’s a strong drift dive in either direction. We can head toward El Aguila Wall or drift back toward the Overheat shallows. The full dive is better for intermediate and experienced divers, but we can adjust the route for newer divers when conditions allow.
Peter’s Place
Peter’s Place is just north of El Aguila. It’s an impressive wall that drops into a deep sand slope that can play tricks on your eyes.
This is a great multilevel drift dive, with deep wall cruising followed by canyons and crevices in the shallows. Bear’s Den can also be reached by drifting north from Peter’s Place.
Best for intermediate and experienced divers.
Spooky Channel
Spooky Channel is one of the most different dive sites around Roatan. It was formed by an ancient river gorge cutting through the island, and the dive starts from a lagoon before opening into a cathedral-like bowl.
The visibility can be lower here, which is part of the feel. Shafts of light come through from above, and the channel walls rise from around 27m / 90ft almost to the surface.
As you work toward the outer wall, keep an eye out for sea stars, southern sennets, toadfish, lobster, snapper, grouper, and barracuda near the mooring.
This is an experienced diver site. Good air consumption, calm buoyancy, and comfort in overhead-style environments matter here.
Staff Picks: Best Dive Sites in Roatan
Ask our instructors for their favorite dive site and you’ll get a different answer depending on the day, the current, the season, and who saw what on the last boat. That’s Roatan diving.
Hole in the Wall, picked by Alex Harper Graham
Alex loves the caves, swimthroughs, and beams of sunlight that come through the reef structure. For underwater photography, Hole in the Wall gives you drama, depth, blue water, and sometimes thousands of silversides moving through the darker spaces.
Depth note: the deeper route reaches 40m / 130ft, so this is one for experienced divers with strong buoyancy.
SeaQuest Shallow, picked by Rachael
SeaQuest is calm, sandy, and wide open. It’s a great site for new divers, photographers, and anyone who likes taking their time.
The sand reflects light, which makes the site bright even when the sky is cloudy. You can spread out, search for little creatures, and keep an eye out for turtles and feeding rays.
El Aguila, picked by Scuba Ted
Ted’s first answer was “all of them,” which is about right. But El Aguila is hard to beat if you love wrecks.
The 220ft cargo ship sits around 30m, broken into sections with swimthroughs, resident grouper, and plenty of places for fish to hide. Pair it with Nitrox if you’re certified and want a little more time to enjoy the wreck.
Blue Channel, picked by Cruz
Blue Channel is a strong first dive in Roatan. You get swimthroughs, wall, macro life, and resident morays, all in one site.
Cruz calls it “night dive cheat mode” because you can sometimes spot octopus, squid, lobster, and other night-dive favorites during the day.
Josie J Shipwreck, picked by Monty Graham
Josie J is not a recreational dive. This deep shipwreck sits beyond recreational limits near West Bay Point and is only for properly trained technical divers.
The highest point of the wreck sits around 168ft / 51m, the wheelhouse is around 185ft / 56m, and the bow reaches around 211ft / 64m. Divers need the right training, equipment, gases, and planning to dive it safely.
If tec diving is on your list, Monty and the Roatan Tec Center team can help you work toward it the right way.
Mandy’s Eel Garden, picked by Sammy
Mandy’s Eel Garden is exactly what it sounds like. Garden eels rise out of the sand, then disappear as you get closer.
It’s a fun all-levels dive with sand patches, wall, eagle ray potential, and plenty of small life to search for along the way.
Bear’s Den, picked by Tina
Bear’s Den is known for its tunnel and cave-like swimthroughs. There’s a U-shaped swimthrough that starts shallow and opens toward the wall, plus darker sections where light comes through from above.
This is a dive for buoyancy control. Move slowly, stay relaxed, and let the site do its thing.
Fish Den, picked by Shane
Fish Den is shallow, easy to navigate, and full of small reef life. It’s a favorite for spotting juvenile fish, blennies, spotted drums, crabs, grouper, trumpetfish, parrotfish, trunkfish, and banded shrimp.
It’s also a great night dive site because the route back to the mooring is straightforward and there’s always something moving after dark.
Come Dive Roatan With Us
This list barely scratches the surface. Roatan has dive sites for brand-new certified divers, photographers, wreck lovers, macro hunters, deep divers, and tec divers working toward the next level.
Come find us in Half Moon Bay, West End. We’ll check the weather, load the tanks, pick the right site for the group, and show you why we still get excited to dive here after thousands of boat trips.
Bring reef-safe sunscreen. The reef will thank you.
