- Open Water course
- HNL 9,400
- Best season
- Diving is possible year-round, but the dry season
- Water temperature
- 25–29°C
Updated July 2026
Good to know
Good to Know
- Roatan is fundamentally a boat-diving destination — even divers based right at West End or West Bay should expect nearly every named site to require a short boat ride; only a couple of resorts (like CoCo View) offer genuine shore/house-reef access, and even then visibility on the house reef is often best only in early morning.
- The deeper wrecks (El Aguila, Odyssey around 100-110 ft, and especially the tec-only Josie J at 213 ft) require appropriate certification — Advanced Open Water at minimum, full tec training for Josie J.
- If you're deciding between a land-based dive resort and the Roatan Aggressor liveaboard, be aware some experienced repeat divers report the liveaboard often stays anchored in the lee of the south side due to wind/fuel considerations and doesn't always reach dramatically different terrain than shore-based operators can access.
- Most operators ask divers to buy or wear a Roatan Marine Park bracelet (around $10 USD) to support reef conservation — it's a donation-style fee, not a mandatory government tax.
- Most dive shops price and quote everything in US dollars even though the official currency is the Honduran lempira — USD cash is accepted almost everywhere on the island.
- A 19% Honduras sales tax and a small per-diver Roatan Marine Park conservation fee (around $10) are commonly added on top of the advertised course price, so ask for an all-in quote before booking.
- If you already started a certification elsewhere, the referral system (finishing e-learning/classroom at home, then doing only the in-water dives in Roatan) is very common here and noticeably cuts both cost and on-island time.
- Roatan is a genuine, internationally recognized freediving destination in its own right (home to the annual Caribbean Cup competition), not just a scuba island — worth knowing if you're interested in breath-hold diving alongside or instead of scuba.
Dive Sites And Conditions
- Access Summary
- Diving around Roatan is overwhelmingly boat-based day diving, not a genuine shore-diving destination. The fringing reef runs close to the coast, so boat rides to sites are typically short (roughly 5-15 minutes from West End, West Bay, or Sandy Bay), but almost all named sites require a boat. A small number of dive resorts (notably CoCo View Resort and, historically, Fantasy Island) offer real shore/house-reef diving off their own jetty, including a wreck and wall accessible on foot from the dock — but this is the exception, not the norm, and independent shore diving/tank rental for non-guests is essentially unavailable. A liveaboard option exists (the Roatan Aggressor, embarking from Roatan) covering Roatan, Utila, Cayos Cochinos, and the offshore seamounts, but experienced divers report the boat is frequently weather-locked to the lee (south side) of Roatan for much of a given week and that the underwater scenery variation versus land-based diving is smaller than liveaboard marketing implies. Bottom line: plan on day-boat diving from a West End/West Bay/Sandy Bay-based operator as the standard model; treat liveaboard or the outlying Cayos Cochinos/seamounts as a supplementary, weather-dependent add-on rather than the default.
- Marine Park Fee
- HNL 268
Roatan Marine Park conservation bracelet fee, commonly requested by dive operators supporting reef conservation
Sites
El Aguila (El ÁGuila)
- Type
- wreck
- Depth
- Sits in roughly 100-113 ft (30-35m) of water
- Best Season
- Year-round; deeper wreck, best in calm conditions
- Marine Life And Notes
- One of Roatan's three main shipwrecks, a former cargo ship about 230 ft (75m) long, broken into three pieces by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Known for its intact mast; divers report blennies, nudibranchs, southern stingrays on the sandy bottom, green moray eels, grouper and midnight parrotfish.
Odyssey
- Type
- wreck
- Depth
- About 100-110 ft (30-33m)
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- A large freighter (bigger than El Aguila) sunk in Sandy Bay in November 2002, sitting in a sandy bottom with a swim-through interior and ending on the adjacent reef wall.
Prince Albert
- Type
- wreck
- Depth
- ~60 ft
- Best Season
- Popular as a night dive
- Marine Life And Notes
- A wreck near CoCo View Wall; a resident green moray eel is often seen swimming between the wall and this wreck.
Mr. Bud Wreck
- Type
- wreck
- Depth
- ~60 ft
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Small wreck surrounded by sand flats populated with jawfish.
Josie J
- Type
- wreck (technical only)
- Depth
- 213 ft (65m)
- Best Season
- Year-round, technical divers only
- Marine Life And Notes
- Sits off West End Wall; exclusively a tec-diver site. Divers report occasional hammerheads and larger marine life; visibility usually allows some natural light to reach the wreck.
Hole in the Wall
- Type
- reef/cavern
- Depth
- Tunnel exits the wall at roughly 100 ft; recommended max ~34m for recreational limits
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Named for a sand-chute tunnel through the wall; good for all levels near the reef, more demanding through the tunnel itself.
Mandy's Eel Garden
- Type
- reef
- Depth
- Shallow
- Best Season
- Year-round; good beginner site
- Marine Life And Notes
- Located off West Bay Beach; known for garden eels on a sandy patch, shallow and easy for all levels.
Bears Den
- Type
- cavern/swim-through
- Depth
- Chimney chute swim-through begins around 50 ft
- Best Season
- Better suited to intermediate/experienced divers
- Marine Life And Notes
- A 120 ft-long chimney-chute swim-through leading to an opening onto a honeycombed coral wall; accessible by drifting from Peter's Place.
Pablo's Place
- Type
- wall/drift
- Depth
- Vertical wall starting around 50 ft, continuing well beyond recreational limits
- Best Season
- Year-round, current-dependent
- Marine Life And Notes
- At the island's western tip near Flowers Bay; a popular drift site where current typically carries divers toward the site known as Texas.
Calvin's Crack
- Type
- reef/crevice
- Depth
- Crevice runs from ~30 ft to ~80 ft, exiting onto the wall face
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- On the east side of the island in Jonesville; a long volcanic crevice cutting through an elbow-shaped plateau, lined with abundant marine growth.
CoCo View Wall
- Type
- wall
- Depth
- Shallow reef top down a wall
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Reef top thick with lettuce, staghorn and elkhorn coral; a resident green moray eel is often seen here and cleaning stations attract varied marine life.
Doc's Retreat
- Type
- reef
- Depth
- Moored in ~20 ft
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Healthy hard and soft corals with a series of sand chutes and coral mounds.
French Cay Cut
- Type
- reef/snorkel-and-dive site
- Depth
- Moored in ~20 ft
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Sandy basin leading to a cut; a shallow wall top lined with star and elkhorn coral mounds.
Gold Chain Reef
- Type
- wall
- Depth
- Moored at ~25 ft; reef top 10-30 ft
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- A sloping wall fingering out to a large sand slope, wall top thick with elkhorn, staghorn and lettuce coral.
John's Spot
- Type
- wall
- Depth
- Wall edge at ~40 ft, descending well beyond recreational limits
- Best Season
- Year-round; deeper sections for advanced divers
- Marine Life And Notes
- Coral ridges lead to a steep, sponge-covered wall ending at a sandy channel.
Little French Cay
- Type
- reef
- Depth
- Reef top 25-30 ft
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Lush outcroppings with overhangs thickly populated with hard corals.
Mary's Place
- Type
- wall
- Depth
- Plateau from ~30 ft down to ~60 ft; surrounding walls drop to 120 ft+
- Best Season
- Year-round; regarded as a signature Roatan site
- Marine Life And Notes
- One of Roatan's most famous sites — an elbow-shaped plateau with a complex system of deep crevices, surrounded by impressive vertical walls; was named among the 'Best Dive Sites' in Scuba Diving Magazine's 2018 Readers' Choice Awards.
Menagerhea's Reef
- Type
- wall
- Depth
- Mooring at ~20 ft, sand chute point at ~50 ft
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Overhangs and ledges behind sheet corals draped with rope sponges and soft corals; a scenic wall at any depth.
Missing Link
- Type
- reef/wall
- Depth
- Moored at ~20 ft; reef top 20-30 ft, wall drops to 80 ft
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Large hard-coral mounds and hedges to the reef edge; known for schooling fish.
Anka's Place
- Type
- wall
- Depth
- Moored at ~20 ft
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Shallow meandering wall with cascading corals and large rope, tube and barrel sponges; shows visible reef damage from a 2009 earthquake.
Overheat
- Type
- reef
- Depth
- Shallow plateau at 15-20 ft, wall drop-off a 7-minute swim away
- Best Season
- Year-round; a favored training/beginner site
- Marine Life And Notes
- Located in Sandy Bay; protected from surge and currents, popular for Discover Scuba and Open Water training. Soft corals host sergeant majors, yellowtail damsels, black durgons, angelfish and butterflyfish, with creole wrasses and blue chromis at the nearby wall.
Spooky Channel
- Type
- channel/swim-through
- Depth
- Max depth ~90 ft; wall in places rises almost to the surface
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- A dramatic channel cutting the reef crest between lagoon and wall, formed by an ancient river gorge; snapper, grouper and barracuda are often found near the mooring.
Green Pearl
- Type
- wall/swim-through
- Depth
- Suitable for all levels, with a deep-wall option for Advanced Open Water divers
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Located in the Sandy Bay area after Zack's Patch; combines wall, swim-throughs and a cleaning station.
Blue Channel
- Type
- swim-through
- Depth
- Varies
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- West End site known for a dense 'bowl of fish.'
Canyon Reef / Zack's Patch
- Type
- swim-through/reef
- Depth
- Varies
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Sandy Bay-area swim-through sites frequently grouped with Mandy's Eel Garden and Bears Den for their swim-through terrain.
West End Wall
- Type
- wall
- Depth
- 30-60 ft
- Best Season
- Year-round; generally calm conditions
- Marine Life And Notes
- Shallow, calm wall known for spectacular shallow corals; also a starting point for drift dives toward Texas.
Texas
- Type
- wall/drift
- Depth
- Varies with drift
- Best Season
- Year-round, current-dependent
- Marine Life And Notes
- One of four sites forming 'The Point' (with Black Rock, West End Wall and Pablo's Place), where north- and south-shore currents converge on a long plateau; a common drift-dive destination from West End Wall or Pablo's Place.
Black Rock
- Type
- wall
- Depth
- Varies
- Best Season
- Seasonal whale shark sightings reported
- Marine Life And Notes
- Part of 'The Point' site complex; noted by local operators as a spot for occasional seasonal whale shark sightings.
Half Moon Bay
- Type
- reef
- Depth
- 15-40 ft
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Shallow reef noted for abundant marine life, good for beginners and photographers.
Dolphin Den
- Type
- reef
- Depth
- Varies
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Noted by local operators for reef sharks and lobsters.
Pillar Coral (North Shore)
- Type
- drift/wall
- Depth
- ~90 ft (27m)
- Best Season
- Best for intermediate/advanced divers
- Marine Life And Notes
- Named for a pillar-coral pinnacle jutting off the wall between Overheat Reef and El Aguila; a good drift dive in either direction, with eagle rays in the deep and moray eels and crabs in the overhangs.
Peter's Place
- Type
- wall/drift
- Depth
- Multilevel, deep wall to shallow canyons
- Best Season
- Best for intermediate/experienced divers
- Marine Life And Notes
- A multilevel drift dive along a deep wall with canyons and crevices in the shallows; connects to Bears Den cave by drifting north.
Cara a Cara
- Type
- reef (organized shark dive)
- Depth
- Varies
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- A dedicated shark-encounter dive site ('face to face' in Spanish) run by local operators for close encounters with sharks.
Fish Den / Gibson Bight / Sea Quest Deep / Dennis' Dropoff
- Type
- mixed reef/wall
- Depth
- Varies by site
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life And Notes
- Additional named sites regularly run by local dive shops; Sea Quest Deep is noted for unusual coral-tree formations.
General Conditions
- Best Season
- Diving is possible year-round, but the dry season (roughly March to September) generally brings the best visibility and calmer seas.
- Reef System
- Roatan sits on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second-largest barrier reef system in the world, giving walls, canyons, swim-throughs and coral gardens close to the island.
- Water Temperature
- Roughly 78-84°F (25-29°C) year-round
Further Afield Option
- Name
- Cayos Cochinos
- Type
- reef/seamount cluster
- Best Season
- Calmest when wind/wave conditions allow the crossing
- Note
- A separate island/cay group south of Roatan with healthy, lightly-dived reefs and exposed seamounts. This is genuinely a day-trip-by-boat or liveaboard destination (roughly a 30-mile round trip), not a short hop from West End/West Bay — treat it as an add-on excursion rather than part of everyday Roatan diving.
Nearby Dive Sites
Hubs
Utila
- How to get there
- ferry
- Country
- Honduras
- Travel time
- 1 hour
Courses And Operators
Typical Costs
- Divemaster
- Typically marketed as a 6–8 week professional-track course; exact pricing varies by shop and wasn't consistently published, so no reliable figure is given here.
- Marine Park Fee
- HNL 235
Per-diver Roatan Marine Park conservation fee, commonly added on top of course/dive prices.
- Open Water Diver
- HNL 9,400
Typical quoted price is around $400 plus 19% Honduras tax for the full course (materials, gear, e-learning, and certification); one resort quotes $400 for in-water instruction plus $100 separately for e-learning (~$500 total).
- Discover Scuba Diving
- Not separately priced in sources reviewed; typically a fraction of the Open Water course cost as a half-day taster.
- Open Water Referral Water Only
- HNL 3,900
For divers who already completed classroom/e-learning elsewhere and just need the in-water portion completed in Roatan.
- Scuba Diver Referral Practical Only
- HNL 6,580
One West End shop's price for completing only the practical training portion of the (limited, supervised) Scuba Diver level.
Operator Density
- Summary
- Roatan has an unusually high concentration of dive operators for its size. A West End-focused count alone identified 14 separate dive shops operating in that village strip, and that excludes the separate concentrations of shops and dive resorts in West Bay, Sandy Bay, and the south side of the island.
- Other Areas
- West Bay has its own cluster including West Bay Divers and resort-affiliated operators like Mayan Divers and Infinity Divers. Sandy Bay is home to Anthony's Key Resort, described as the first dedicated dive resort on the island. The south side (Dixon Cove/French Harbour area) has operators such as Roatan Dive Center's second location and Coco View Resort, a long-standing resort particularly known among underwater photographers.
- Operator Types
- The market splits roughly into boutique dive centers (smaller boats, ~10 people, course- and fun-dive focused, concentrated in West End), hotel-attached dive resorts (larger groups/families, concentrated in West Bay), and a few Instructor Development/Tec Centers that also train divemasters and instructors.
- West End Shops Named
- Seagrape, Eco, Jackson's, Native Sons, Sun Divers, Coconut Tree, Island Diving Center, Roatan Divers, Quality Time, Reef Gliders, Ocean Connections, West End Divers, Splash Inn, and Roatan Dive Center (Sueno del Mar) were all named as active West End operators.
Freediving Crossover
- Caveat
- This crossover is a genuine, well-documented specialty niche (competition-level freediving hub) rather than something every general scuba shop casually offers — most of the everyday PADI/SSI dive shops listed above are scuba-focused and don't run freediving programs themselves.
- Details
- Roatan has a dedicated, standalone freediving school — Roatan Freediving School & Training Center, based in Sandy Bay — rather than freediving being just a side-offering tacked onto scuba shops. It runs AIDA, Apnea Total, and PADI Freediver courses from beginner through instructor level, and organizes the annual Caribbean Cup Freediving Competition, which draws international competitors from multiple continents. A separate operator, Freedive Roatan, is also described as the island's first PADI Freediving Center, based in Sandy Bay.
- Genuine Crossover Confirmed
- Yes
- Why The Site Works For Both
- Roatan's appeal for freediving crossover is geological: the reef wall drops off to very deep water only a short swim from shore in places, giving freedivers close access to significant depth without a boat, while the same calm, warm, clear conditions that suit scuba training also suit freediving.
Certifying Bodies And Levels
- Dominant Agency
- PADI is by far the dominant certifying agency across Roatan dive shops, though a handful of shops (e.g. Roatan Dive Center, and Coconut Tree in West End) run SSI programs instead of or alongside PADI.
- Notes
- Referral system is widely used: many nomads/travelers complete the PADI e-learning knowledge portion online before arrival, then finish only the in-water confined/open-water dives on the island, cutting on-site course time to roughly 2–3 days.
Levels Commonly Offered
- Discover Scuba Diving (try-dive, half-day, no certification required)
- PADI Scuba Diver (limited, supervised certification for shorter stays)
- PADI/SSI Open Water Diver (entry-level autonomous certification)
- PADI/SSI Advanced Open Water Diver
- Rescue Diver
- Divemaster (professional level)
- Instructor Development Course / IDC (several shops, e.g. Roatan Divers, are PADI 5-Star IDC Eco Centers)
- Various specialty courses (wreck, night, deep, navigation, underwater photography, etc.) — one West Bay shop advertises 15 PADI specialty courses
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.