West End, Roatán, Bay Islands, Honduras

Insidious

Insidious is a deep wall dive on the western tip of Roatán, included by Roatán Aggressor and West End operators because of its sheer vertical face and reliable big-animal sightings. The dive begins on a shallow coral shelf at 10 meters with healthy hard-coral stands, then drops over a vertical wall that descends past 50 meters into the open blue. The face is densely covered with deep-water gorgonians, rope sponges in oranges and purples, large barrel sponges and clusters of black coral. The deeper portions of the wall are reliable for Caribbean reef shark passages, spotted eagle ray, large grouper and barracuda; the shallower shoulder hosts hawksbill turtle, queen angelfish, schooling creole wrasse, midnight parrotfish and spotted moray. The site sits in clear water away from the West End channel with visibility averaging 25 to 32 meters; currents are usually mild but the depth limits the dive to a single deep tank.