Diving - Lots to choose from but most of the reefs seem to be pretty heavily fished. If it was large enough to be on a plate, it wasn't in the water. There were massive numbers of jellyfish on the lee side (several people were stung but mostly they were non-stinging varietys) while the windward side had both better diving and virtually no jellyfsh. The dive operation is pretty well run but the DMs will want to take you to sites on the lee side and want you to do 60 foot 45 minute dives. Explain that you are on a computer and they are wasting your time and their tip and they will back off.
Sites we dove:
Shore diving - This is a joke at Bayman Bay. The ads say 'unlimited shore diving' but the reality is that there are two-three scrub reefs (may just be one big one with some breaks in it) in 15-20 feet of water. There are actually a couple of spots where you can get as deep as 40 feet at high tide if you want to crawl on the bottom in the eel grass. This is maybe worth a day dive to familiarize yourself and then a night dive but not a lot more. It is the only place where we saw a shark and that was a small nurse shark lying on top of the reef in about 7 feet of water. BTW, shore dives are not allowed on Sunday because of boat traffic and the shallow water (so much for unlimited). Given that you aren't allowed to dive on your first day, this makes Sunday an ideal day to arrive. The water temp never varied more than a degree or two from 84 F. I spent the entire week diving in a skin.
Shore Dives
Max depth - 25 Water Temp - 84 Viz - Night Dive Bottom Time - 39
AOW night dive. Saw some interesting micro life including some very pretty jellyfish. The lines that lead out to the reef are covered in Fire Coral so be careful not to touch. They are also difficult to see because they are 1/4 inch lines and are down in the eel grass. Best to take your first trip out during the day.
Max Depth - 40 Water Temp - 84 Viz - night dive Bottom Time - 51
Max Depth - 33 Water Temp - 84 Viz - 80 feet Bottom Time - 56
Max Deoth - 36 Water Temp - 84 Viz - 80 teet Bottom Time - 65
Mostly we did these dives cause there was nothing else to do that didn't involve being eaten by bugs. Put a MACRO lense on your camera and there are some good shots out on these reefs. The biggest fish you are likely to see during the day is a tang (unless the nurse shark shows up.) On the night dive we were being dive bombed by horse eyed jacks and that was an interesting and disconcerting experience. Most of these dives were terminated by boredom rather than OOA or NDL.
Boat Dives
Wonderful Reef
Max Depth - 65 Water Temp - 84 Viz - 65 feet Bottom Time - 56
Nice reef on the lee side with lots of MACRO life and not much bigger. Sea cucumbers and tiger's tails abound. This was our first dive so some time was spent doing check-out (mask flood, hover, reg recovery - NBD but at least they do it.) Not much current and nav was pretty easy.
Jim's Silver Lode
Max Depth - 99 Water Temp - 85 Viz - 70 feet Bottom Time - 46
Some really big groupers and lots of very pretty coral formations. This is on the windward side and is a much prettier reef than those on the lee side. There is a large variety of macro life so just leave the macro lense on the camera. Bluebell tunicates are really pretty.
Afternoon Delight
Max Depth - 52 Water Temp - 84 Viz - 70 feet Bottom Time - 60
Very very pretty reef with lots of coral, sponges, and other invertebrates. Not a lot of vertebrates around though we did spot a good sized eagle ray. Too far away for a picture though.
Paradise Reef
Max Depth - 49 Water Temp - 84 Viz - 50 feet Bottom Time - 56
Prett reef. You will be offered the opportunity to go through a tunnel. It is narrow and winding and uninteresting since there is nothing left inside that hasn't been knocked to the floor by divers. Saw a sand diver and a couple of small peacock flounders.
Jado Trader
Max Depth - 110 Water Temp - 84 Viz - 100+ Bottom Time - 25
Freighter lying on its side. One of the denizens of the wreck is a VERY large green moray that will swim out looking for a handout from the DM. Be patient and you can get some good shots of this one swimming free. There are also some large groupers trying to get in on the handouts but once the moray gets his/her head n the bucket there won't be much left. On the trip back up, there are some interesting coral formations that look like a florist arranged the coral and feather dusters intentionally.
Marta's Reef
Max Depth - 65 Water Temp - 84 Viz - 80 Bottom Time - 57
Another dive with lots of small life. Arrow crabs everywhere. Saw several cleaning stations but not too many customers. Sea grapes (bluebell tunicates) everywhere. They are very pretty.
Basket Star Reef
Max Depth - 51 Water Temp - 84 Viz - night Bottom Time - 31
Ought to be renamed Jellyfish Soup. Everywhere you turn your light, it is reflected back from thousands of walnut shaped jellyfish. Every once in a while mixed in among them will be one that will sting if given the opportunity. Once we gto below about 25 feet, the jellyfisj thinned out. Surprisingly little life around. Best part of the dive was holdinh the light over a jellyfish and watching it ingest small shrimp then watching as the shrimp swam around inside the jellyfish.
Alderson's Wall
Max Depth - 64 Water Temp - 84 Viz - 100+ Bottom Time - 52
Deep channel leading away from Michael's Rock. Very pretty wall covereedwith corals and sponges. Lots of fish around but mostly small. Saw many arrow crabs and a couple of reef crabs. About half way through your air, come up to 20 feet and cruise along the top of the wall. Lots of micro life and things to be seen.
Michael's Rock
Max Depth - 58 Water Temp - 84 Viz - 100+ Bottom Time - 62
Very pretty reef with lots of fish. Be careful of the tunnel trips you will be offered. Many of the passages are very narrow and several of the 'larger' members of the group bailed out before getting half-way through. Found some cleaner shrimp set up deep in a cavern. Brittle stars and arrow crabs down inside sponges.
Roger's Last Dive Boat
Max Depth - 72 Water Temp - 84 Viz - 100+ Bottom Time - 49
Actually has no name but we named it for Roger our DM. It is a wreck and wall right off the dock at the Cas Sobre de Mar resort (a very small - max 6 people - hotel and dive resort with no bugs - IMO, it is worth investigating.) A hohum wreck but a really nice wall wth a lot of life large and small. Found an octopus lair (I think from the dead crabs around the opening) and saw lots of ver pretty coral and sponges. This would be a very nice shore dive for people staying at the above mentioned hotel and the proprietors seemed very nice. If I go back to Guanaja, this will be on m list of places to stay.
No Name reef
Max Depth - 68 Water Temp - 84 Viz - 100+ Bottom Time - 57
Roger couldn't find the marker so just dropped us on the edge of a reef and followed us with the boat. May have been the prettist reef we were on the whole week. Lots of life. Saw several large crinoids, many tunicates, crabs, shrimp, and fish.
Food:
Food is plentiful and actually not too bad. Breakfast is served early with lots of coffee (Honduran coffee is good but the water on Guanaja is not so be prepared for some strange flavors.) Lunch arrived about when the boats got back. The bar is available with the two local beers (Nacional and Salva Vida) the cheapest alternatives. FWIW, Salva Vida saves your life by filling you with formeldahyde. Nasty stuff. Nacional is much better. I did notice that on the day we had fried chicken for lunch, there were only legs and that the local iguana population seemed smaller. Coincidence? Dinners were OK. If you are looking for a gourmet restaurant, this is not the place to go. If you just want food, you will get plenty.
Misc:
We had a 4 hour layover in San Pedro Sula between the early morning Islena flight from Guanaja and the AA flight to Miami. We were offered a tour of the 'banana plantation, mahogany factory, and artists market.' for $20 PP to include lunch at a local restaurant. The banana plantation was driven through on a highway with a brief explanation, the mahogany factory was OK but really a place to spend your money, the local restaurant was Wendy's cause 'you don't want to eat the local food and get sick on your last day' according to our guide (though I think the Wendy's was run by a relative), and the marketplace was a real pit. I would much rather have gone into the town and seen the downtown area than what we saw.
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