If I Were Going...: Roatán Under the Sea

A Stoplight Parrotfish in West Bay, Roatán

In my last post. I talked about our trip to Roatán. In this post, I'll talk mainly about our underwater adventures.

Becca was right when she said the snorkeling was good in Roatán. The beach in front of the resort had a deep sandy shelf that gave way to coral reefs and there was virtually no surf. So, you could easily walk out, put on your flippers and then swim through the reefs.

Sandy bottom and coral; Left: Becca Stevens; Upper middle, lower right: Caty Stevens

The first time we went surfing was in the afternoon. We walked down to the last resort on the bay to snorkel along the wall that forms West Bay.

We admired a Roatán Spiny-tailed Iguana in the rocks first

The beach at the south west end of West Bay is in front of the Kimpton Grand Roatan Resort and Spa, but is fortunately a public beach. The wall rises straight up and we assumed would have the best coral.

You can see the wall to the left; straight ahead is a sea stack

We were a bit disappointed by the murky water and grayish coral. We believed that the problem was two-fold: coral reefs everywhere are dying and do not have as many bright colors as they used to. The wind (by now pretty strong) was stirring up the sand.

You can see lots of debris in the water around this Stoplight Parrotfish

We found snorkeling in the morning much clearer. The coral was still dull, but the water was clearer.

Don't get me wrong, there was some color; Right: Caty Stevens

We saw some good stuff ...

Sergeant Majors

Blue-striped Grunts

A beautiful Feather Duster Worm; Photo: Caty Stevens

Atlantic Blue Tangs (also called Caribbean Blue Tangs); Photos: Caty Stevens

Blue Tangs in all their colors!

A Mahogany Snapper

Yellow Grunts; Photo: Caty Stevens

Longspine Squirrelfish; Left photo: Caty Stevens

Princess Parrotfish (male and female); Left photo; Caty Stevens

Sea Fans; Photos: Caty Stevens

Symmetrical Brain Coral

Staghorn Coral

Golfball Coral

The best fish, by far, were the Stoplight Parrotfish that really like to have their photos taken.

Such pretty fish; Left and lower right: Caty Stevens

An adult and a juvenile posing; Photos: Caty Stevens

Wow!

And, Caty and I spent a lot of time with two White-spotted Eagle Rays.

This was Caty's first Eagle Ray; Photos: Caty Stevens

So cool! Photo: Caty Stevens

Not a lot of variety and not large schools, but fun to see.

One day, other snorkelers told us they had seen a “seven-foot Nurse Shark” and then someone else said a “small nurse Shark.” Maybe the same one, maybe not. We looked, but didn’t find any.

Not any here

Then, when we were walking back from lunch (not in swimsuits and with no underwater cameras), there was a small (a couple of feet, not seven) Nurse Shark swimming all around the lagoon.

Hard to see because it stayed completely below the surface ...

Easier to see from on the dock; Photos: Caty Stevens

Cool to see (and hard to photograph)

Caty, Becca, Aaron and Luke went night snorkeling on our final night.

Caty, Aaron, Becca and Luke on the night snorkel

I decided not to go because I have such poor night vision and I think it would have been a bit too freaky.

A night-time Spiny Lobster; Photo: Becca Stevens

But, I did miss the best thing of the trip: A Caribbean Reef Octopus!

They got to watch it change colors; Photo: Becca Stevens

I would have liked to see that! Photos: Becca Stevens

Wow! Photos: Becca Stevens

Watch Becca's incredible video here.

Amazing; Photos: Becca Stevens

Diving

I can’t really speak to the SCUBA diving because I didn’t go, except to say that the divers enjoyed it after some initial “I haven’t gone diving in awhile” jitters. Caty said that, going forward, she would snorkel first to get restore some comfort in the water.

Becca did say that the prices were far more reasonable than, say, Hawaii, and that they were happy with the dive masters.