CoCo View Roatan 2018

Return to one of our favorite spots

Day 1

New Camera This is the first open-water picture I took with my new camera. It’s pretty much the same as the first picture I take every time I dive.
The Other Steve I got a better picture of Steve C while we were descending.
The Wilkie Boys Calum looks on, as David gives the dive sign for “I just saw a Panther Shark.” We’ve been asking everyone who works at the resort if they’ve spotted any panther sharks this year. Oh, yeah – there’s no such thing as panther sharks.
Lots of Corals And lots of different kinds of them.
I like these trumpety lookign sponges.
Click Fast A damsel fish dashed in front of the camera as I was taking a picture of some coral.
More Corals
Sleepy Eel I’ve never seen an eel laying on its side like this.
Awake Eel Right after I took the first picture, the eel got active and started swimming around.
Nic and Camera I took a picture of Nic takiing a video of me.
That’s one big barrel sponge
Trip Goal I’ve decided this year to try to get a decent picture of coral with divers in the background. Here’s my first try.
Marcos in the Crack Our guide, Marcos swimming through a little canyon in the wall.
Divers with Coral Part 2.
Another bunch of coral
Divers with Coral Part 3 It doesn’t work so well if the divers are at the wrong angle.
Divers with Coral Part 4 Here’s Calum with a huge Elkhorn coral.
Sea Pearls They’re not really pearls. they’re actually the biggest one-celled organism in the world. Around here, they call them “Sailors’ Eyeballs.”
Pair of Conchs. Their mating ritual includes an elaborate dance that includes head stands. I totally made that up. Nobody on the boat has any idea how they got standing up that way.
A SquirrelFish
Bob Found Something He never did tell me what it was…
First Lionfish there are a lot fewer lionfish here this year.
Big Sponge These always look kind of creepy to me.
Up Close Coral I tried out the close-focusing on my new camera. This piece of coral is about the diameter of a cigar. The focus works pretty good.
Indigo Hamlet One of my favorite fish. Mainly because it’s one of the few whose name I can remember.
Seahorse These guys are almost impossible to find under water.
Basket of Popcorn No, probably not.
Lobster First one of the trip.
Another Lobster We saw them on an afternoon dive when it was so cloudy, the critters probably thought it was night.
Giant Clam Or at least a big one. Calum showed me where to find this on inside the Prince Albert.
Spider Crab I’ve seen lots of these, but this is the first one that was walking around.
Calum going in Calum penetrated the Prince Albert on our afternoon dropoff dive.
Mr Snapper This guy was hanging around at our safety stop.

Trumpetfish on the Prince Albet Look at how his amazing natural camouflage makes it blend right in with the deck of the ship.
Window on the Reef I like these natural openings. They’re usually placed so that you have to bend your body unnaturally to get at the right angle.
Bonus Crack We swam through another smaller crack a little ways along the wall.
Calum Running Late I was taking pictures in the engine room, when Calum came zooming through.
Behold the Face of the Squirellfish
Another bunch of coral
Butterfly Fish This is the picture that won me the t-shirt. Actually, it was just the fact that I had seen this guy, because he was one of the lucky sighting species on the board today.
That Snapper Again
Pillar Coral This kind of coral makes neat formations. Some of them get pretty tall – 7 or 8 feet.
Company in the Engine Room David found another hole in the side of the hull, and used that to enter the engine room.
Behold the Face of the Burrfish
Divers with Coral Part 3 It doesn’t work so well if the divers are at the wrong angle.
Heading In After the safety stop, Nic follows those Wilkie boys back in to the dock.
Super Model Snapper Again
Super Model Snapper I saw this guy in the same place two years ago. I guess when something works for you, you stick with it.
Its Full of Stars I don’t know what this is called, but those blue spots look like really bright LEDs.
Some shallow coral
Another picture of this
One of These This looks like a trunkfish, but was huge – a little over a foot long. It also has a crazy color scheme going on.
One of these things is not like the others…
Rock Beauty Face We learned about these guys in Turks & Caicos. There’s an Elvis-inspired sign to tell other divers that you’ve found one.
Adult Spotted Drum When they grow up, they’re no longer moon-shaped.
Yellow Seahorse This is probably the best seahorse picture I’ve ever taken. Somehow, he was sitting right out in the open.
Lobster Close Up
Me David was nice enough to grab my camera and take a picture of me.
Calum in the Prince Calum is just emerging from the interior of the Prince Albert.
Mr Snapper This guy was hanging around at our safety stop.
Closing Up After we all signed the log, David resealed the geocache in the ammo can.
Calum going in Calum penetrated the Prince Albert on our afternoon dropoff dive.
Signing in After David got the cache open, we all took turns signing the logbook. This is Nic recording his visit.
Spider Crab I’ve seen lots of these, but this is the first one that was walking around.
Lionfish and Lovey Part Deux I did some Photoshopping to remove the weird David-hand-shaped growth from the plush stuffed lionfish.
Sitting on the Prince David located a Geocache on the Prince Albert. And, he found a way to hold himself stable while opening it.
Giant Clam Or at least a big one. Calum showed me where to find this on inside the Prince Albert.
Orange Trumpetfish THey all have some orange spots or stripes somewhere on them, but this guy pretty much straight-up orange.
David in a Grotto I came around a corner on Newman’s Wall, and found David just floating in this little nook. He looked so natural, that I took a picture and thought about passing him off as a crab.
Another Lobster We saw them on an afternoon dive when it was so cloudy, the critters probably thought it was night.
Coral Skull I swam over to this coral formation to take a picture, because it looked EXACTLY like a skull. Looking at the picture now, I think maybe might have been overdoing the diving this week.
Smiling Parrotfish They use their mighty beaks to chomp on coral.
Lobster First one of the trip.
Hole in the Roof Under an alcove-like overhang, I found a little hole with sunlight coming through. So I took a picture of it.
Another Indigo Hamlet
Basket of Popcorn No, probably not.
Lionfish With His Lovey It’s not widely known that lionfish like to sleep with plush toys that they can cuddle as they fall asleep. Here’s a rare glimpse into the life of these beautiful but dangerous creatures.
Four-Eyed Butterfly Fish These critters mate for life, so these two are probably married.
Seahorse These guys are almost impossible to find under water.
Another view of an Eagle Ray that buzzed past me.
Behold the Face of the Damselfish Frozen like that, the vicious brute looks almost like some kind of genetically modified hummingbird monster.
French Angelfish This picture isn’t rotated, he’s just eating coral from the top of a little overhang.
Indigo Hamlet One of my favorite fish. Mainly because it’s one of the few whose name I can remember.
Steve C Taking Pictures Steve rented a camera at the resort, and got some pretty good shots. Here he is hovering over the den of a panther shark.
Behold the Face of the Eagle Ray
Bluestripe Grunt Not to be confused with the Red Stripe grunt that David makes when he drinks Jamaican beer. These are a very common around here. They look like snappers, but without the teeth.
Up Close Coral I tried out the close-focusing on my new camera. This piece of coral is about the diameter of a cigar. The focus works pretty good.
Today’s Indigo Hamlet
A Big Crab With a big claw.
David Caught a Lobster Well, kind of. After I took this picture, he turned the lobster around to show me that the entire back half was missing.Something must have taked a big bite.
Big Sponge These always look kind of creepy to me.
A Damselfish These guys are the gangsters of the reef. They’ll take on anything that gets too close to their territory, including divers. Many’s the diver who has been mercilessly mocked by his buddies after jumping in panic when one of these little jerks started nibbling harmlessly at his elbow.
This guy and a bunch of his friends were hanging out under the boat at the end of a dive. Once we got on board, the crew had sliced watermelon for us. When we tossed the rinds into the water, these monsters attacked like pirhana. Before the next dive, we rubbed watermelon all over Bob’s bathing suit.
Indigo Hamlet Profile Still one of my favorite fish. They look cool, and they are really hard to photograph because of the way they dash around.
First Lionfish there are a lot fewer lionfish here this year.
Another Sea Pearl
Christmas Tree Forest A whole herd of different colored Christmas tree worms growing on top of a sponge.
The Face of Hamlet Indigo Hamlet, that is.
Bob Found Something He never did tell me what it was…
Southern Sennets This is a flock of Southern Sennets that buzzed us. They’re related to Barracudas.
David at the Helm He’s having so much fun pretending to drive, that he doesn’t even seem to notice Bob’s girlfriend floating there.
Queen Angelfish Not actual royalty, they just call them that. Pretty, though.
Lionfish are Rare This Year This is only the second one we’ve seen in five dives. One of the divemasters told us that technical divers are finding them at 200-300 feet, so they must be goign deep to avoid the increased hunting activity.
A SquirrelFish
Bad Neighbors Jawfish are known for being unsociable with their own kind. When two of them set up house too close together, arguments ensue. These two were taking turns rising out of their holes to chase their neighbor back down into his own hole
David Outside David swimming past the wheelhouse after making a turn around the outside of the boat.
Double Barrels I’m pretty sure that this is the result of two barrel sponges growing together, but it sure looks like a single sponge with two barrels
Hanging Three Every dive ends with a three-minute safety stop at fifteen feet to let the nitrogen come out of your blood gradually. Divers usually look around the area or review their photos on the safety stop. Bob S and David like to catch a quick nap. One of us gives them a finger in the ribs before we start heading in.
Juvenile Spotted Drum The adults are more filled-in. The young ones have a half-moony shape.
Pair of Conchs. Their mating ritual includes an elaborate dance that includes head stands. I totally made that up. Nobody on the boat has any idea how they got standing up that way.
Another Tubeworm This was a big sucker. The fan is probably six inches across.
Trouble in the Wheelhouse It looks like things aren’t working out so well between Bob and his new lady friend. She seems to have been abandoned in the wheelhouse, 50 feet underwater with no air supply. Seriously, Bob? Again?
Monument to Tulio According to Marcos, Tulio was a dive boat captain around these parts. “Get off my boat” is a common phrase uttered by that type of person to inform the divers that it’s OK to enter the water. Ironically, this memorial is located at a site called Managerea. We dove a site called Tulio’s Reef the next day.
Back at it. David gived Bob S a taste of “The old rented mule treatment.” It wasn’t clear whether Bob knew that anything unusual was happening.
Boat Ribs There’s a nearly completely disintegrated wreck of a fishing boat near the mooring line of the site we dove in the afternoon. All that’s left are these long poles from thr sides and the fuel tanks. All of it is completely encrusted with coral.
Sea Pearls They’re not really pearls. they’re actually the biggest one-celled organism in the world. Around here, they call them “Sailors’ Eyeballs.”
Steve C Behind the Lens Steve’s takign a picture of a coral with several flamingo tongues on it. Bob S was workign as a spotter to help us find them.
Leaving the Engine Room One of the ways out is up a ladder that leads to the wheelhouse.
A Big Grouper
Big Ass Grouper on the Prince Albert
More Divers Over Coral The trick seems to be finding bright colored coral and large divers. Here’s Bob and Nic.
Divers with Coral Part 4 Here’s Calum with a huge Elkhorn coral.
Burrfish from another angle. This one is roughly football-sized.
Another View of Mr Bud’s Engine Room Some of the big metal things were left in place.
Another Snapper in a Nook
Another trunkfish from a different angle. This one’s maybe two inches long
Spike Urchin in the Coral I had a dickins of a time trying to get both the lens and the strobe at the right angle to see the urchin down in this little crack in the coral. Also, this humid climate has really helped my dry hands.
If the whole world was somehow the size of a bubble, and everyone was comitted to living in peace with everyone else, I bet it still wouldn’t look anything like this picture.
Another Picture of Coral with Divers I really don’t know if I’m getting any better at this.
Calvin’s Crack This is one of my favorite dives on Roatan. It reminds me of Antelope Canyon in northern Az, but underwater. I came around a turn, and there was a little crab standing on top of a rock on his hind legs, dancing and singing about how wonderful life is under the sea. Or I may have been slightly narced. It was a fairly deep dive.
New Camera This is the first open-water picture I took with my new camera. It’s pretty much the same as the first picture I take every time I dive.
Dawm Patrol our first dive today was a dawn dive. We got in the water around 4:30 so we could watch the critters come out as the sun rose. It was tough getting up, but I woud up getting a picture of a fish that won me a t-shirt.
Barracuda This guy was just hanging out over a reef in about 45 feet of water. He didn’t seem to mind me getting up close to take a picture.
Going Over the Wall Most of the dives here are wall dives along the barrier reef that surrounds the island. Here’s David heading up to the top of the wall. At the top is a large reef area that’s about 30 feet deep.
Calum Coming Clear of Calvin’s Crack
Yellow Coral and Blue Fish
The Other Steve I got a better picture of Steve C while we were descending.
Seargent Majors They’re called that because of the four stripes they have. these were one of the first fish to start coming out just before it started getting light.
Barracuda As I got closer, he opened his mouth. Maybe it was just a yawn, but it seemed to carry a “That’s close enough” type message.
There Goes the Neighborhood The grunts seem to be eyeing the poor squirrelfish with something like disapproval.
Steve C as he appears to fish
Stingray! David and I were seperately poking around on the reef about 15 feet apart, when this guy glided right between us. I happened to look up, just by chance, just in time to snap this. David never even knew it was there.
The Wilkie Boys Calum looks on, as David gives the dive sign for “I just saw a Panther Shark.” We’ve been asking everyone who works at the resort if they’ve spotted any panther sharks this year. Oh, yeah – there’s no such thing as panther sharks.
There’s a system for night dives using numbered tags. everybody takes a tag and hangs it on the bouy chain at the safety stop. That way, when you’re on your way back in, you know if there’s anyone else still out there. The last person in the water brings the strobe back in.
Barracuda The business end of the barracuda
Fairy Blennie One of these little bastards finally held still long enough for me to get picture of him.
Triple Barrels This one looks more like three sponges that just set up housekeeping a little too close to each other.
Flamingo Tongue These are snails with a white shell. When they feed, they extend their mantle over their shell, which gives them a spotted appearance. This one is somewhere in the middle of the process, so the spots are still mainly at the edges. Really.
Lots of Corals And lots of different kinds of them.
Peering into the Prince David takes a peek into the cargo hold of the Prince Albert.
Shrimp We see these little shrimp all over the place. This one was standing on a rock, and waving his front legs frantically.
Today’s Indigo Hamlet
Bob and Friend Bob met a “local girl” and took to bringing her along on dives, and buddy breathing the whole time. Here, it looks like she’s ready for another breath, and she’s reaching for the regulator.
He looks like a member of the bass family, but he’s got cool blue dots all over him.
I like these trumpety lookign sponges.
Nic in the Prince We did a nocturnal penetration of the Prince Albert before the sun came up.
The Dentist is In This fish came and lay down in front of the shrimp, and the little guy hopped right into his mouth and started cleaning.
Rock Beauty These tend to stay pretty well hidden. I think they must be delicious, and they’re expecting everything else to eat them.
Coral Invasion You don’t hear much about the epidemic of undersea violence that’s gripping coral reefs around the world. Here’s a picture of an aggressive pink coral growing all over a more passive red coral.
More Coral Invasion The rise of coral-on-coral violence continues to plague the inner sea.
Click Fast A damsel fish dashed in front of the camera as I was taking a picture of some coral.
Passage way in the Prince There’s something about swimming around in the dark that makes shipwrecks seem so much scarier at night. Or at 5:00 in the morning.
Face of a trunkfish
Mary’s Place We dove a site called Mary’s Place. Marcos says it used to be called Mary’s Crack, but sometimes there would be a Mary on the boat, and things would get uncomfortable. Here’s David entering the crack.
A Spikey Green Alien-Looking Thing in a Patch of Lettuce Coral Sorry, that’s all I’ve got here.
Another Rock Beauty
More Corals
Another room in the Prince Albert
Another lobster
Entering Mary’s Place It’s a lot darker in the crack, so it takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the light.
Last Trumpetfish of the Dive We were messing around under the boat at the end of the dive, when I saw this guy. I drifted along with him for a few minutes, until he wound up next to a pretty patch of coral.
Another Juvenile Spotted Drum
Sleepy Eel I’ve never seen an eel laying on its side like this.
Another Room in the Prince Albert
Yet Another Indigo Hamlet Finally! one of these guys who doesn’t mind having his picture taken. And in front of a nice contrasty red sponge, too.
Making the Turn There’s a left turn about halfway through. David seems to have found it with no problem.
Trifecta! While I was taking pictures of the trumpetfish, I realized that if I bent my back upwards until my head hit the top of the tank, while floating about two inches above the bottom, I could get the Trumpetfish, the coral and our boat in the same picture.
Underwater Pastoral This was our last site for the week. On the top of the reef there were seemingly endless hills of coral seperated by sand chutes. It was a great place to finish the trip.
Awake Eel Right after I took the first picture, the eel got active and started swimming around.
Deep Inside the Prince
Nic and Camera I took a picture of Nic takiing a video of me.
In the Cargo Hold
Another Sea Pearl.
In the Dark Part
Behold the Face of the Fairy Duster It’s a type of tubeworm.
Just a Colorful Coral Head
That’s one big barrel sponge
Nic Emerging
Big Ass Stingray He’s easily five feet across. One of the guys on the boat said it’s a Southern Stingray. It looked to me like it was badly in need of some rest. It landed on the sand, and just sat there.
Heading for the Light David heads into the home stretch
Mr Bud An old fishing boat, which was sunk and now provides hours of fun for scuba divers.
Fireworm! Nobody wants to touch one of these. One of the Divemasters-in-training told us a story about a student who lost control of her bouyancy and mashed his leg onto a fireworm. He said it hurt.
Trip Goal I’ve decided this year to try to get a decent picture of coral with divers in the background. Here’s my first try.
Ladder on Prince Albert This is the entry to the wheelhouse.
Face of a Flounder
The End of the Crack With David out of the way, I can finally get a good look at where I’m going.
Penetrating Mr Bud One of our group drops into the aft hatch.
Behold the Face of the Devil Grouper OK, there’s really no such thing as a devil grouper. This one was just hanging out in a little cave, trying to look all scary and everything.
Marcos in the Crack Our guide, Marcos swimming through a little canyon in the wall.
Doing Science Underwater I found a way to measure the current under water in low-visibility conditions. You just float at a constant depth, and see how long it takes for the ship to disappear as the current blows you out to sea. This morning, it was about one minute.
A Burrfish Hiding in the Coral These guys always look like they’re up to some kind of Little Rascals type trouble.
Another Barracuda Look who was waiting for us at the end of Mary’s Place. He cruised about three feet in front of me just as I was exiting the crack.
Doorway in Mr Bud
A nice one of those things that I can never remember the name of.
Divers with Coral Part 2.