You better check yourself before you wreck yourself! Yes, I think I’m hilarious. Today I’m sharing photos from our wreck dives.
We end up diving 2 wrecks in Roatan – El Aguila and Prince Albert. During my planning for this trip, I read through 100 Diving Sites: Underwater Paradises Around the Globe
Since Emma has decided to get her advanced diving certification, we also do a local wreck dive – El Aguilar.
El Aguila Wreck
Up first is the El Aguila wreck, about 10 minutes north of West End. Intentionally sunk in 1997, it was hit by a hurricane in 1998, breaking it into 3 pieces.
I always think it’s kind of neat, descending on to a wreck. It slowly starts to appear out of the dark, looming below. It would be kind of creepy if it wasn’t so cool.
Emma did her deep dive certification the day before, so we’re able to go the 100ft down to the bottom where the ship is located.
We start by swimming around the outside of the bow of the ship before heading over the top.
A close up of the outside of the boat. It’s neat to see all the life that is capable of growing here. Nature seriously blows me away.
On top of the ship, I try to see if I can figure out what all the odd shapes once were. Unfortunately I’m not very good at this game. The only things I recognize are stairs and doors. Maybe I need to spend more time on boats. That wouldn’t suck.
Emma takes a peak inside the belly of the ship. It’s pretty dark inside and none of my pictures turn out. It’s just a big, dark cavern.
I think what I find most interesting about this next picture is not Emma being a goofball (that’s normal), but how much empty space there is down here. Away from the reefs, it seems like there almost isn’t any life at all. Well, except Emma, of course.
We finish the dive by exploring the nearby reef until we run out of air. And by run out of air, I mean reach our bottom limit of 700psi. This ensures we still have enough air to get back to the boat and do our 3 minute safety stop – decompression stop – before we ascend. It’s not always necessary, but it’s always good practice. Especially after deep dives like we just completed.
Prince Albert Wreck
Back on day 1 when we were trying to decide on a dive company to go with, I asked each operator if they went to Mary’s Place and Prince Albert wreck. I got the same answer from all of them, “No, it’s too far away, on the other side of the island. You should check out Barefoot Divers. They are located right next to the sites.” Bummer.
But, thanks to Emma’s extrovertness, when she went to the bar later that night, she learned that the bartender is also a dive master for Barefoot. He told her they were having a special for the coming weekend – both dives, rental gear, snacks and water for $100. Well isn’t that just our luck?
Sunk in 1985, the Prince Albert is Roatan’s first intentionally sunk ship specifically for diving purposes. 30+ years later, it’s still in remarkably good shape.
Thanks to the rain we’ve been having, the water isn’t as clear as we’ve seen. In some pictures below, you can actually see all the organisms floating in the water.
One thing they teach you when you get wreck certified is that you aren’t supposed to swim into the wrecks themselves. One of the reasons being that you could disturb archeological evidence. But since Prince Albert has been sunk on purpose, specifically for divers, the only thing to disturb here is fish. In we go!
It’s so otherworldly.
And here we have Emma showcasing the latest in coral color options.
Back outside the boat, we swim to the front to take some photos on the bow. Doing our best Titanic impressions. Emma’s a bit better at it than me. I just look like I’m falling over backwards. Standing up in water is hard!
Next to the boat is the remnants of an old plane wreck. Two wrecks for the price of one!
See those dark, purplish spots on the wing below? Those are fish eggs, and the fish hovering above are guarding them.
As we do our safety stop, our guide shows us a sea cucumber, also known as a sea slug. They kind of look like strange little sticks. Until they more, at least.
So what do you think? Are you excited for some wreck diving of your own? Or maybe reefs and fish are more your thing? Never fear, I have more coming your way!
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