Reefwander
Close-up of a dome of brown coral covered in round, green-rimmed polyps, with algae-covered reef rock behind it — Hole in the Wall, Roatán

Roatán · Honduras · Cave & cavern · Wall

Hole in the Wall

Exit a sand-chute tunnel through an opening in the vertical wall face

Photo: cello caruso-turiello · CC BY 4.0

Hole in the Wall is a sand chute that runs as a tunnel through the reef wall just south-west of the boat channel at Mangrove Bight. Divers follow the chute down inside the reef and come out through an opening in the vertical wall face and finish deeper than they started.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Hole in the Wall: typical dive 12–33 m (40–108 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit12 m33 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

16.3138° N, 86.5918° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

The tunnel mouth opens on the reef top at about 12 m (40 ft). From there the route follows a long sloping sand chute down through the reef itself, with the wall closing overhead, until the passage opens out on the vertical face at 33 m (110 ft) and divers emerge through the hole the site is named for.

Water movement is usually negligible, so the work on this dive is buoyancy: the chute is an overhead environment from the entrance to the exit, and the deepest point of the route is the exit itself rather than the reef top.

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for Hole in the Wall
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
GoodGoodPrimePrimePrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodFairFairFair

Season follows Roatán: March to August is dry with the calmest seas; October to February is the rainy season, wettest in November and December.

Know before you go

  • The tunnel is an overhead environment: solid buoyancy control and previous cavern experience are needed before entering.

Dive videos

Hole in the Wall - Ocean Connections - Roatan · Ocean Connections on YouTube

Questions divers ask

What experience does Hole in the Wall need?+

The route is an overhead tunnel that exits through the wall at 33 m (110 ft), so it calls for deep training, solid buoyancy control and previous cavern experience.

Sources

  1. Diving sites in Roatan, Honduras — Dive the World
  2. Splash Inn Roatan dive sites — Bluewater Dive Travel
  3. Hole in the Wall — ScubaGo

Photo credits

More dive sites in Roatán

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