By Sally Simmons
We just got back from snorkeling Utila and Roatan Honduras in February 2026. We flew from Miami on a short flight that unfortunately did not arrive until after the Utila ferry left. So we booked an expensive (but worth it) flight on a small plane through Bay Islands Charters. It was fun and scenic!
We stayed at Hacienda Resort on the south side of Utila. The owners picked us up in a tuktuk and took us to a grocery store for food since their place is boat access only. They then took us to the small resort in their boat. The resort was a paradise!
Snorkeling in Utila
There was ample snorkeling off their dock that would have been much better if we had gone at a time of better weather. Although we didn’t experience bad weather, it had visited the island the week before and stirred up the sand so there was decreased visibility. Both Utila and Roatan got hit very badly with sargassum the week before we came and there was still a bunch at the resort.
We also went with a dive boat to the north side of the island. This was very economical since it only cost $20/pp. The site had lovely topography and some nice fish and coral. The fish we saw on Utila were mostly the Stoplight Parrotfish in several of its manifestations. We saw a few squid and a lot of cleaning stations with cleaner wrasse.
Snorkeling in Roatan
After six nights we took the ferry to Roatan and stayed at Luna Beach Resort for four more nights. We went out with a tour with Lincy’s Snorkeling Tours for a “3 Stop” tour. We went first to West Bay with lots of crevasses and canyons and a lot of the parrotfish we saw on Utila.
Our second stop was close to West End and we saw a turtle here plus some Spotted Eagle Rays in varied terrain. The third stop was opposite the Anthony’s Key Resort and we saw a giant parrotfish! It was huge!
The next day we went out with the dive boat (the resort charged $25/pp) and had an enjoyable snorkel. That night we went on a night snorkel with Lincy’s Snorkeling Tours which was wonderful. It was in West Bay in front of Infinity Bay Resort. We saw three octopuses displaying their sea blue colors and impossible shapes! Also a highlight were the large lobsters that came out of their holes to show us their whole bodies.
Our last day we went to Halfmoon Bay on the other side of West End to a restaurant called Ginger’s. They let us store our bags there while we went snorkeling and told us the route to take. We snorkeled out to the point and back where there is no boat traffic allowed. We saw three barracuda including a huge one, a Scrolled Filefish and lots of small fish. We saw a small French Grunt nudging or biting a strange caterpillar-like creature that we’ve never seen in over 20 years of snorkeling. All over all of the snorkeling sites are purple sea fans and some other soft coral, lots of small sealife and even some Christmas tree worms.
Compare Snorkeling Utila and Roatan Honduras
The two islands were very different—Utila was very laid back and tranquil. We saw a billion stars! (At least it seemed that many!) Perhaps Utila has better snorkeling at other times of the year, but for our time, Roatan had the best snorkeling. However, Roatan is also livelier and every resort and restaurant is playing Jimmy Buffet type music and there are all kinds of activities.
Cruise ships visit Roatan—one day there were six docked and our resort was quite a bit louder and busier since they have a package for the cruisers. They did not affect our snorkeling since we had booked an early morning snorkel.
We enjoyed the snorkeling Utila and Roatan Honduras but it does not compare to any of the Indonesian snorkeling sites we have visited, but it is certainly easier to get to!
We also were in Roatan earlier (December 3rd). It was our first time to snorkel Roatan. We stayed in a condo next to Infinity Bay Resort in West Bay. Sadly we found the snorkeling to be very “ho-hum”. We did see a “few” very pretty fish – as you mentioned but in general the coral was almost non-existent except for a few purple fans and a bit of healthy Elkhorn Corals.
A few of the locals said that with all the cruise ship people coming to snorkel, the damage has increased over the years.
We snorkel the north shore of Cozumel, along the rock/coral wall and have seen much more there than in Roatan.
Sounds like a trip to Indonesia would be a good snorkel trip.
Thanks for your post on Roatan.
Estuve en Roatan hace 30 años, y temo volver y llorar, como me sucedio en cozumel. (I was in Roatán 30 years ago, and I’m afraid to go back and cry, just as happened to me in Cozumel.)
So sorry you were there when the sargasso came ashore. That is becoming a definite problem in the Caribbean. I have had that experience on a smaller scales at several islands. After almost 25 years of visiting the islands I know it is becoming more frequent and thicker. Our world is changing. Sigh. And with it our reefs and oceans. I see the change every trip.
I agree with Sally. There is no snorkeling in the Caribbean that I have seen that matches Indonesia. Our first trip to the Caribbean after the Maldives was very discouraging. To enjoy our playground we had to change the way we snorkel.
The challenge is to SEE the small things. We have almost made it a game. We become the hunters – hubby and I working in tandem. We snorkel slow and wide. We look for treasure. We stop and linger long at the active areas of live coral watching the spawning dance. Evening we hunt nurse sharks and octopus. When a parade of Blue Tang comes by we stop and watch the flow. Finding the home of eels so I can visit again. Knowing those Sergeant Majors will be in the same place to say hello and to watch for that elusive triggerfish that will come out to take a gander then leave like a bat out of hell. Knowing the rays well enough to give them a name.
In front of Hacienda last year was the hangout of two nurse sharks, a small and a large. So funny, they stick their heads under a ledge their bodies open to view and they think they are hidden. I still have not found the answer to do females and their young stay together? Squids courting and the female producing the egg for the male to go and hide. That is a slow snorkel.
Slllooow and still snorkeling has become the norm for us now. It grieves me to see the Pillar Corals collapsed in a heap, the Staghorn almost all gone, the swathes of Elkhorn white and crumbling, the graveyards of dead brain corals.
But I still see and probably relish the treasures I find in Caribbean. It is my playground. A trip to Indonesia is icing on my cake. Planning one now.
Thanks for the update on the areas. The last time I snorkeled Roatan – renowned West Bay I cried for what has been lost there. That was four years ago. Same at West End. And both, way too many people to make me smile.
But with all the loss I still long to be in the water looking under the sea to see whatever I can see. Wherever I can be.
The next book on my bookshelf – What A Fish Knows – The Inner Life of Underwater Cousins.😄
This is awesome. Thanks so much for sharing Debbieo!
Thanks for a great post, Debbieo. I agree—love the one you’re with! If in the Caribbean, notice what is there. If in Indonesia, try not to be overwhelmed and just observe.
Thanks for the book recommendation! I have it on my list. Here’s one for you—Playground by Richard Powers. Although about much more than ocean creatures, it has a character who researches the ocean and has many great descriptions. It is fiction.
I lived in the Florida Keys for 41 years, 23 of those years on the Atlantic Ocean. Although I’ve never been to Hawaii, and I’ve heard it’s beautiful and in the continental United States you can’t get much better than the Florida Keys. Not everything is bleached out, but I do find the snorkeling tourists on what the locals call the cattle boats that disgorge about 50 people onto the reefs, don’t know how to snorkel. If you’re near them you’re liable to get your face mask kicked off or else witness them standing on the corals or breaking pieces off. It aggravates me that the cattle boat captain or first mate doesn’t give them instructions on how to treat the coral.
I have never been to Indonesia, but I have heard of Wakatobi Resort and have wanted to go there many times. I am 79 years old now and laying in a bed getting outpatient radiation for lung cancer and I have decided that I’m going to start spending my money and I guess Wakatobi will be one of my first choices.
However, the reef I really would’ve liked to have seen was Kingman‘s Reef but for that, I think you gotta have a doctorate in marine biology and get special permission to go there, not to mention the mileage involved out in the middle of the ocean.
I did snorkel in Roatan and was truly amazed to see blue coral, which I had never seen before. This was in 2023 and the reef was not bleached out, and it was beautiful, colorful and pretty pristine.
I wish you well with your treatment, Lisa, and hope you make it to Wakatobi! I was in a dive shop once buying sunscreen, and they had a poster advertising a dive trip to Wakatobi. I thought—I wonder if snorkeling would be good there? That was the star of our overseas snorkeling adventures! We did end up going to Wakatobi and it is fabulous. They treat you very well there! You fly from Bali, so you can have a vacation there afterwards—heavenly! I sincerely hope you get to go.
I so agree with the comments here. The snorkeling in the Caribbean is not what it used to be but is still enjoyable.
I too find the rock wall on Cozumel to be a lot of fun with multiple sightings of rays, squid, lionfish, morays. Roatan had its moments too.
I would put in a plug for the Maldives. I have been to Indonesia twice but like the Maldives as well or even better (is that possible?) as I have seen so many different and wonderful creatures from Manta Rays to Whale Sharks to octopuses floating by the house reefs. We have been surprised by a school of 30 sharks who swam by before we had time to react. There are areas of dead coral but this is balanced by the wide variety of live coral and larger sea life.