Guanaja may be small, but it boasts 38 moored dive sites — plenty to keep divers busy over a week’s time. Novice divers can explore caves and grottoes teeming with colorful marine life, but many of the dives are best suited for more experienced divers. A few of the highlights are:

Black Rock Canyon: This maze of caves and tunnels was created long ago by volcanic activity. There are plenty of silverside sardines, glassy sweepers, groupers, and barracudas. Sharks and moray eels are known to sleep in its nooks and crannies — be sure to bring a dive light.

Don Enrique Wreck: The wall here drops 24 meters to a sandy bottom, which slopes down to a sunken shrimp boat, its mast stabbing 15 meters up through the water. Both the wreck and the wall are teeming with sealife, often including spotted eagle rays.

Jado Trader: This is a renowned sunken 60-meter freighter lying on a sandy shelf next to the barrier wall. The maximum depth here is 33 meters. The fish are fed here, and so plenty of grouper and yellowtail hang around, as well as moray eels, horse-eye jacks, and amberjack. Hammerhead sharks have been spotted at the site. This site is not for novices, and Wreck Certification is recommended for those who want to penetrate where the light does not.

Jim’s Silverlode: A tunnel along the wall at a depth of 21 meters brings divers into a sandy-bottomed amphitheater-like area populated by huge groupers, yellowtails, and moray eels. Swarms of silverside sardines keep divers company along the way. This is an intermediate-level dive.

The Pinnacle: Located in a channel, the pinnacle stands on a sandy bottom at 135 feet, rising to a point about 55 feet below the surface. The pinnacle is covered with gorgonian, wire, and black coral, while seahorses, groupers, and spotted drums swim nearby. Divers typically sink to 24 meters and then spiral up and around. The wall of the channel also has beautiful coral at only 3–9 meters deep.

Vertigo: This site along the barrier reef wall has spectacular drop-offs. The top of the wall is at about 11 meters, drops to 49 meters where there is a sandy shelf, then drops off again beyond sight. Black and white sea lilies (crinoids) can be found here.

Guanaja’s dive shops are attached to hotels, but they’re often willing to take out day divers. Bo Bush, owner of the Island House on Guanaja’s north side, will take out day divers at reasonable prices.