Big Rock is one of the busiest sites on Utila's south side, dived by certified divers and students alike. A large sandy patch runs from about 4.6 metres down to roughly 39 metres alongside a wall, and the sand is the draw: garden eels carpet it, and among them sits what is probably the largest seahorse on the island, out in the open between 18 and 24 metres.
Where it is and how deep
16.0704° N, 86.9452° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The site is a wall dive with a large sandy patch beside it, and that patch is what most dives here are built around. It runs from about 4.6 metres all the way down to roughly 39 metres, so you can pick your depth: students work the shallow end, while divers after the seahorse drop into the 18 to 24 metre band and swim the sand slowly.
Down there the bottom is covered in garden eels, in numbers large enough to hide what you are looking for. Somewhere among them, sitting out in the open rather than tucked into a crack, is probably the largest seahorse on Utila. Hover, stay off the sand, and let the eels settle rather than driving them back into their burrows; it usually takes a slow pass or two before the seahorse resolves out of the background.
Come back up along the wall for the rest of the dive. Because this is a busy site with a genuinely shallow end, there is no need to hurry the ascent - the top of the sand at about 4.6 metres makes an easy place to finish, and the wall gives you something to look at through the safety stop while the rest of the group works its way up.
Marine life and season
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Good |
Season follows Utila: March to May is dry, clearest and best for whale sharks; October and November bring the heaviest rain and some runoff.
Questions divers ask
Where is the seahorse at Big Rock?+
It sits out in the open on the sand between 18 and 24 metres, hidden by the sheer number of garden eels around it rather than by cover. Finding it usually takes a slow, low pass over that band rather than a search of the reef itself.
Sources
- Big Rock - Utila — Scubago
More dive sites in Utila
Reef
Broken walls and sand channels, 4.6 to 30 metres
Sand slope
A sand break through the reef, beach to past 30 metres
Reef
Black coral on a south-side drop, marked by four buoys
Reef
Hawksbill and green turtles at the reef's western end
Wall
A drop-off dive over one of Utila's coral nurseries
Wall
A 100-metre crack in the wall at 18 metres
Wall
Near-vertical face of tube sponges, sea fans and black coral
Cave & cavern
A cavern mouth at 24 metres, just past The Maze
Similar dives elsewhere
A sand chute from 15 m to a coral ledge at 30 m
A coral plateau at 14 m above two drop-offs and a sand pass
Garden eels on the sand, then a wall that falls past 914 m (3,000 ft)
Sand chutes to the wall, plus a small wreck on the sand