Longsnout seahorse (Hippocampus reidi)

Roatan—December, 2018


Deb hadn't been to Roatan, and we enjoyed our last trip there in 2009 so we booked a trip aboard the Aggressor .

To the right is a map of our week on the boat.

After enjoying the captions below, you can view larger versions of the photos by clicking on them. This will open a new tab in Google Photos. Use its menu to start a slideshow, or select a photo and press the Info button to view captions and maps. Download the GPX or even KML tracks to fly through our dives with Google Earth.


Prologue (Saturday, 2018-12-15)

We abhor red-eyes, so we flew into Atlanta Friday night and got a fairly good night's sleep at the Embassy Suites. The next morning, we caught a flight to Roatan where we arrived almost precisely at the 3:30 dock time.

We set up our gear and got comfy in the salon for a short orientation before dinner. Diving would start the next morning.


Valley of the Kings (Sunday, 2018-12-16)

We took two dives here. I didn't always bring my camera, like on the first dive, and I didn't dive all dives (as Lori and Deb did).


Pirate's Point (Sunday, 2018-12-16)

We had three dives here, including a night dive. It's a nice spot. There was a green moray eel that swam around us non-stop. I first saw it swim under Gabi as she was photographing something, and then it swam about a foot under me as I was photographing the spotted drum.


Virginia's Wall (Monday, 2018-12-17)

We dove here a couple of times. Another nice spot with a toad fish and scorpion fish. Later in the week, I could hear a toad fish. It sounds, well, like a toad croaking!


Mr. Bud (Monday, 2018-12-17)

We did three dives here, including a night dive. Because it's a wreck, it was very recognizable from our previous visit. I've included a photo for comparison. There has been some growth in the past nine years!


Mary's Place (Tuesday, 2018-12-18)

Mary's Place was, and still is, one of the best dive spots with its topography, swim-throughs, and sea life. And sea horses! We did a couple of dives here.


40' Point (Tuesday, 2018-18-18)

Another nice spot. Dove a couple of dives here.


Cayos Cochinos (Wednesday, 2018-12-19)

Others have really loved this place and spent the entire day here. Since there are lots of fish, I can see that, but we had quite a bit of current, which made for a short dive, a lot of effort, and few photos. During the first dive, we kicked against it, and then used the mooring line during our safety stop. Without gloves. Our hands are just now, 10 days later, getting over it. For the second dive, we did a drift dive over the entire sea mount and I left my camera behind, so it was a whole lot more relaxing.


Mandy's Eel Garden (Wednesday, 2018-12-19)

Quite the contrast from Cayos Cochinos! No current, and lots of tourists in the water in little bubbles. Quite humorous. This was a lovely little spot with lots to see, and navigation was a cinch. We did three dives here, but I skipped the night dive (after dinner).


Lighthouse Reef (Thursday, 2018-12-20)

We did a couple of dives here. Gabi went shallow and avoided the current. Jesse kicked against the current and then drifted back to the boat. Fortunately they had set up a tag line so we didn't have to grab the mooring line for our safety stop. I left my camera behind on these dives.


Tavianna's Wall (Thursday, 2018-12-20)

The crew found a respite from the current. This was a nice spot. We did three dives here, although I skipped the night dive.


Epilogue (Friday, 2018-12-21)

We did our last couple of dives at Calvin's Crack. I sat these dives out as a pinched nerve in my neck kept me from feeling "dive-ready."

We then headed back to the dock where we saw John again (he first swam out to the boat when we were at Mandy's Eel Garden). He now manages the Roatan Aggressor. We first met him as a divemaster on the Cayman Aggressor in 2012!

After the cocktail party and awards, we went to Gio's for dinner where I had a huge king crab. Lots of food. Lots of fun.

The next day, we killed a few hours at the Pineapple Villas in the hot tub, sauna, steam room, and pool, and had a decent lunch at the Herby's Sports Bar & Grill before our flight back to the US.

Calvin's Crack

Calvin's Crack topside

My Leukotape was a big hit

Our tour of Roatan

Stuff we saw

Captain Eddy, engineer German, and divemaster Jesse

We disembark the Aggressor

Wanda, Gale, Lori, Deb, Bill, Richard, Eric, Bryan, Jim, Tom
Roatan Aggressor

Deb and Lori make use of the facilities at the Pineapple Villas before our flight home


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