Spooky Channel

For divers searching for something different, Spooky Channel is an interesting location that links the lagoon to Roatan’s outer reef. Once an ancient waterfall above the surface in the last ice age, this gorge now provides a beautiful underwater canyon for divers to enjoy.

Begin the channel in the shallows of Sandy Bay’s murky lagoon, then continue winding through it until you reach its maximum depth of 95 feet, with some areas within the channel opening to as wide as 50 feet across. The main, cathedral-like chamber at the maximum depth is riddled with starfish and lobsters, and while there isn’t an abundance of fish to be found in the darkness, houndfish can be found occasionally in schools. Above the heads of divers, the walls converge as they near the surface, with the opening at the top being only about 5 feet wide, and creating a ribbon of light high above that stretches along the channel.

Due to the very narrow gap between the walls, there is a very low level of light which enters the deeper parts of the channel, hence the name “Spooky”. The low light levels also create an uncharacteristically shallow habitat for many corals that are typically only found in much deeper parts of the ocean. As you leave the main chamber and back out to higher light levels and greater visibilities, the typical Caribbean marine life of Roatan begins to reappear with parrotfish, angelfish, and groupers. The mouth of the channel leads back to the coral reef, or for more experienced divers, to a tiny swim-through that exits dramatically to the deep vertical wall at 200 feet.