17 Sept 2024
Last day! 🙁
Dive #14 – Águila Wreck
Wrecks typically aren’t my favorite- they tend to be deep, so the dive is shorter and there’s usually not as much fish life, so I tried to spend as much time in the reef as possible before we got to the wreck where I found this blue tang:
and this young blue tang:
Blue chromis:
The wreck of the Águila:
Purposely sunk in 1997, the Águila sits at about 110′ / 33m and, thanks to Hurricane Mitch, now lays in 3 pieces:
but besides this little guy, there wasn’t much to see:
so I went back to the reef, where I found this neck crab:
a moon jelly with a small nibble:
another bristle fireworm in the coral:
Lettuce sea slug / Elysia crispata:
And one of the biggest snappers I’ve ever seen!
He was pushing 2′ long and I spent my entire safety stop (and then some!) trying to get a decent picture- he was surprisingly fast. By the time my camera focused on him, he’d be past.
Dive #15 – Devil Canyon
My guide introduced this dive as, “if you liked Spooky Channel, you’ll love this dive”
I hated Spooky Channel.
Ok, maybe not hated, but this is another topography dive and that is just not my thing. After the wreck this morning, I was hoping to settle on a pretty reef for this second dive, but no luck.
There was a sandy patch at the beginning of this dive that was home to fun things like this conch:
a tiny mantis shrimp:
Tobaccofish:
Very unmarked flamingo tongue:
Squirrelfish:
I have no pictures from the next 20 minutes of this dive- see the background of the squirrelfish picture? That’s what most of this dive looked like, minus the fish.
Eel:
Conch:
And another!
I wish I could have stayed behind and hunted in the shallow reefs- there were cool fish here, like this Black durgon:
and I’m sure I could have found so many more fun fish to photograph, but this happy parrotfish will have to be enough:
Initially, I debated doing the afternoon dive as well- it would put me at slightly less than 24 hours between my last dive and my flight, but this morning’s dives were a disappointing way to end my trip. Unfortunately, they were also deep- this second dive went to 90′ / 27m, so making a 3rd dive before flying home is probably not a smart choice.
So I lugged all my dive gear back to my room, rinsed it out and hung it around my patio. There’s a great breeze in the afternoons here, so I’m hopeful it’ll be mostly dry by the time I need to pack up.
I explored the mainland side of the resort a bit (so many stairs!), where I found this little mango:
which I ate in the shade of my patio with my drying gear.
Across the channel from my resort was Bailey’s Key, which is home to a pod of dolphins. You can swim and snorkel with them, for an additional cost, of course, though everyone I talked to who did it thoroughly enjoyed it. But dolphins have always creeped me out a bit. I like them from a distance, but up close… they’re just too smart and I’m a bit wary of them. So I hopped the boat over to their Key, hoping to get maybe a couple pictures of them.
My trip just so happened to coincide with one of the dolphin experiences, so they and their trainers were out. While the group got in the water with them, I was able to get some fun pictures!
These guys were cruising around in the shallows:
I wasn’t sure why they kept circling until this guy came out:
This is where the dolphin experience happens- swimmers hang out in the water here and the dolphins know this is where food appears!
This bird also knows this is where the food is and made a few dives to try and swipe some fish:
(he was not successful)
Lots of trainers set up stations and were working with their dolphins:
they could get some serious height!
*boop*
Backpedaling:
Backpedaling together:
Jumps:
Waiting for rewards:
Fish, please!
*cheese*
Back swims:
Tail swim, forward:
Tail swim, backward:
Banana position:
Definitely a fun way to spend my post-dive afternoon!
One last sunset on my way to dinner- aren’t those clouds spectacular!
If you had asked me earlier in the week if I would return to Roatan, the answer would have been hands down, yes! The people are great and while the diving isn’t amazing, there have been some cool things (toadfish!) I haven’t seen anywhere else, but these last few days of diving were disappointing. Deep, wrecks, topographic-focused… not really my style, plus the reef really isn’t in good shape- it’s overgrown with algae and while I was able to find interesting things to photograph, it felt like a lot of work. Diving should be fun and there are so many other places on my to-visit list, I probably won’t be back to Roatan for a while.