Roatán, Bay Islands, Honduras

Odyssey Wreck

The Odyssey is a 91-meter (300-foot) cargo freighter intentionally sunk in 2002 off the north shore of Roatán to create the largest purpose-sunk wreck in the Caribbean at the time. The ship sits upright on a sandy bottom in 33 meters of water, with the deck at roughly 24 meters and the top of the wheelhouse around 18 meters. The hull has been prepared for safe penetration with cut-out access points to the cargo holds, engine room and bridge, and divers with appropriate wreck training regularly explore the interior. Marine life on the wreck includes resident Goliath grouper, large schools of horse-eye jack, blackbar soldierfish, queen triggerfish, dense colonies of arrow crabs and occasional spotted eagle ray fly-bys. Encrusting sponges and small hard corals are slowly colonising the upper structures. Conditions are usually mild with 20 to 30 meters of visibility; the depth makes this an advanced dive limited to a single bottom-time slot.