Saturday June 29^th

Welcome aboard the Roatan Aggressor! We greet our guests with a cold beverage and a cheerful ring of the ships bell on Saturday afternoon. Everyone sets up their dive equipment and settles into their cabins.  Carolina conducts a welcome safety briefing and Chef Jana serves up a delicious island style dinner of jerk chicken and pork ribs with all the sides as guests relax and get to know one another. All are excited for a fantastic week of diving ahead!

Sunday June 30^th

We leave the dock at 5am with Captain Willie setting course to our very first dive site, Eel Garden. After the dive deck safety briefing, everyone jumps in to get comfy with their weights and scuba equipment. This site features a reef wall and shallow sandy ledge with a few swim throughs. Within the first 5 minutes of the dive DM Kevin already points out two long snout pipefish! We also spot spiny Caribbean lobsters scuttling along the sand, midnight parrotfish, rainbow parrotfish, baby peacock flounder, a pair of flamingo tongue cowries and several golden faced tobies. At lunchtime we cruise to Taviana’s Wall for our afternoon dives. We soon as we jump in, we have a beautiful experience with a giant hawksbill sea turtle! She makes a close pass right by Cori and Glen moving gently through the water. Nigel sees a green sea turtle with an exceptionally huge remora chasing after it, which was quote “not something you see every day!”. We also see a beautiful silvery school of permits, as well as arrow crabs, Nassau grouper, sea urchins, a very cute couple of boxfish seemingly dancing together underwater and mantis shrimp burrowed in the sand. On the night dive Lynne sees “the biggest crab ever’, a very large example of a male channel clinging crab! DMs Kevin and Willie also point out many different critters including Caribbean Octopus, enormous 20-pound spiny Caribbean lobster and cryptic teardrop crab.

Monday July 1^st

Our first dive site of the day is Spooky Channel. This site features a dramatic deep wall drop off and an interesting underwater typography with a plethora of rocky swim throughs created by centuries of erosion. It makes for quite the sensory experience with beams of light from the surface and a change of visibility at depth, which is what gives this dive site its name. As soon as we jump in, we happen across a gorgeous spotted eagle ray! We also see lettuce sea slugs, arrow blennies, very tiny skeleton shrimp, bearded fire worm, several many rainbow parrotfish chomping on coral, as well as healthy schooling fish life: bar jacks, creole wrasse, snappers and grouper! After lunch we explore Lighthouse Reef, named for a now non-existent lighthouse that use to help seafarers navigate to Utila. We see a huge school of Atlantic spadefish, big male hog snapper, indigo hamlets, rock hinds, midnight parrotfish, yellowtail damselfish and four eyed butterfly fish. Our last site of the day is Black Rock which features a unique set of shallow swim throughs with conditions to crystalline it resembles diving in an aquatic bathtub, and beautiful deep coral wall. We see not one, not two, not even three, but four neck crabs on one sea plant! A very cool find. We also spot peacock flounder, balloon fish and Caribbean octopus on the night dive!

Tuesday July 2^nd

We start our day with a beautiful dive in at El Aguila wreck. This sunken ship sits at 110 feet on the sea floor and is surrounded by fringing coral reef. Encrusted with marine growth, El Aguila is now broken up into 3 parts and is home to bountiful macro life including arrow blennies, cryptic teardrop crabs, and arrow crabs, and features points of penetration for suitably qualified divers. After a delicious breakfast of eggs benedict, we dive in at Half Moon Bay. It was grouper-mania with divers being surrounded by Nassau grouper, black grouper, red grouper and yellowfin grouper! We witness Pederson shrimps offering them their dentistry services in display of a symbiotic relationship within the reef ecosystem. Lynne and Craig saw an extremely cute baby octopus nestled in her little den, very tiny skeleton shrimp, several cruising Caribbean squid, yellow jaw fish decorating their burrows and a massive school of horse eye jacks. For the night dive we explore Willie’s Spot, named for our very own captain. The shallow coral reef and sandy patches reveal many interesting critters including little mushroom scorpionfish, mantis shrimp nestled in their burrows, big eyed soldier squirrelfish, sleeping parrotfish nestled in rocky enclaves and beautiful hard and soft corals glowing psychedelically under ultraviolet light. Divers also enjoy the natural bioluminescence in glowing speckles!

Wednesday July 3^rd

Consulting the weather charts and predictions, Captain Willie selects the safest weather window to make an early morning crossing over to Utila. After a French toast breakfast, we do a live drop in at The Great Wall, exploring the abundant soft corals, barrel sponges and sea fans as we drift along. Glen spots a beautiful green moray eel, and DM Kevin points out 2 neck crabs hanging out on a whip coral as we admire nature in all her abundance. Our next dive site is The Pinnacle, a favorite aboard the Roatan Aggressor. It comes as a surprise to no-one that this site features am impressive underwater pinnace bursting with healthy reef life! Divers see a beautiful, lined seahorse, the biggest that Brian has ever seen. We also see mantis shrimp, spotted moray eels, drumfish, slender filefish, stonefish, and Nigel and Lynne are particularly taken by a gorgeous colorful anemone that they spot. As we cruise back to Roatan the guests enjoy a glass of red with dinner and chat excitedly about the days diving.

Thursday July 4^th

First thing this morning we jump in at an iconic dive site: Cara a Cara. Translating to ‘face to face’, this site is aptly named given that we get up close and personal with grey reef sharks! We see 15 – 20 individuals cruising the reef as divers look on in awe. These big girls are pregnant and spend their 14 months gestational period on the fringing reefs surrounding Roatan. Ash finds 5 shark teeth at the dive site, an impressive haul! Guests enjoy an island style breakfast as we cruise to our next dive destination, Valley of the Kings. Featuring a beautiful reef wall and shallow sandy plateau, there is plenty to explore. We see all our beloved reef favorites: arrow crabs, four eyed butterfly fish, rock hinds, dog snappers, indigo hamlets, bar jacks, queen angelfish, spiny Caribbean lobster, stoplight parrotfish and golden banded coral shrimp. Our next dive site is Mary’s Place, and it is an absolute explosion of color and life. DM Kevin points out three more seahorses!! Including a very delightful yellow seahorse that Lynne falls in love with. We also see schooling chubs, mantis shrimp, neck crabs, big grouper and moray eel!

Friday July 5^th

Checking weather conditions, Captain Willie takes us out to a great spot for our last dive site of the charter – 40-foot wall! It’s great for spotting macro wonders and moray eels. What a fantastic way to conclude a great week of diving! Back safe in the marina for the afternoon, some guests opt to take tours around the island whilst others enjoy relaxing aboard the yacht. Guests and crew alike meet at 5pm on the sundeck for our infamous rum punch party to celebrate our award winners for the week and toast to a great week of diving! We have 5 iron divers: Nigel, Miho, Brian, David and Melisa! We also congratulate David on his 300^th dive and Ash on her 100^th hour logged underwater.

Saturday July 6^th

They say all good things must come to an end, and so too must we bid a fond farewell our beloved guests. Some head directly to the airport, whilst others take a few more days to enjoy their vacation on Roatan. It has been an awesome week of diving aboard the Roatan Aggressor, and until next time we give many, many thanks.

Happy bubbles to all,
Team Roatan Aggressor.