Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras

Moon Hole

Moon Hole is a south-shore Utila dive featuring a circular hole in the fringing reef that opens onto a deeper sandy basin and gives the site its lunar name. From the mooring divers descend to a coral plateau at 8 to 10 meters and approach the hole, a roughly 6-meter-wide opening that drops vertically through the reef into a sandy bottom at 22 to 25 meters. The walls of the hole are draped in sea rods, brain coral and orange elephant-ear sponges, and the basin shelters resident green moray and large lobster. Outside the hole the surrounding reef is reliable for queen angelfish, hawksbill turtle, schooling French grunt, spotted moray, midnight parrotfish and creole wrasse. The site is a popular second dive after deeper south-shore options because of the photogenic swim-through profile. Currents are usually mild; visibility ranges from 18 to 25 meters.