Little Bight is one of the easiest sites to reach on Utila's south side and is dived at every level. A wide sand patch slopes from the beach down to well past 30 metres, cutting a break through the reef that runs parallel to the shore, and the margins of that sand are where the small, odd animals live.
Where it is and how deep
16.0820° N, 86.9186° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The site is a wide sand patch that starts at the beach and slopes gradually down to well past 30 metres, forming a break in the reef that runs parallel to the shore. That makes the profile easy to control: swim out down the sand until you reach the depth you want, then work back along one of the reef edges, with the shallow end always behind you rather than a long way off.
The sand and its margins are the reason to dive this one slowly. Seahorses turn up along the edges, juvenile green razorfish flick over the open bottom, upside-down jellyfish sit pulsing on it, and garden eels stand out of it in patches until you get too close. Coral-covered walls border the break, so there is structure to work against for photographs as well as flat ground to search, and a slow pass with a torch turns up more here than covering distance.
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.
Sources
- Little Bight - Utila — Scubago
More dive sites in Utila
A small sailboat wreck that shelters green morays and nurse sharks
Wreck
An old shrimp boat at 18 metres, full of small life
A 1998 artificial-reef wreck dived for its critters
Reef
Broken walls and sand channels, 4.6 to 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 large seahorse in the garden eels at 18-24 metres
Wall
A drop-off dive over one of Utila's coral nurseries
Similar dives elsewhere
A field of sea pens standing up out of the sand like white feathers
Garden eel colonies on a sand patch near the foot of the wall
Coral blocks and open sand to 30 m, worked slowly
Shore-entry slope with a lettuce coral reef from 21 m