Big Surprise
16.3648°N 86.5160°W · wall
Big Surprise is a wall dive site in Roatán, Caribbean.
Overview
Big Surprise is a Roatan Marine Park mooring site along the barrier reef east of Sandy Bay. While specific diving descriptions for this site are not widely published, the eastern reef corridor offers excellent wall diving on healthy coral formations. Large barrel sponges and gorgonian sea fans decorate the wall face, with moray eels sheltering in crevices and schools of creole wrasse streaming past in the current. Sea turtles are commonly sighted on the reef top. Visibility ranges 20-40 meters.
Site Information
- Location: Roatán, Caribbean
- Entry Type: Boat dive
- Site Type: Wall dive
- Difficulty Level: Intermediate
- Maximum Depth: 24 meters
Sea-surface temperature and wave height from Open-Meteo Marine (ERA5 reanalysis, monthly averages).
553 verified species observations (261 species) logged within ~11 km of this site between 1911 and 2023, from the Ocean Biodiversity Information System.
- Pterois · lionfish
- Gambusia nicaraguensis
- Poecilia orri
- Palatogobius grandoculus
- Lipogramma evides · banded basslet
- Gobiomorus dormitor
- Gnatholepis thompsoni · goldspot goby
- Epigonidae
- Phaeoptyx
- Malacoctenus erdmani · imitator blenny
- Centropomus undecimalis
- Gillellus uranidea · warteye stargazer
Scientific survey records skew toward sampled taxa (molluscs, corals) and do not reflect what you are guaranteed to see on a dive.
Source: OBIS (obis.org), aggregated Darwin Core occurrence records.
Conditions change with the tide and the season. If you have dived this site, share what it was actually like — date, visibility, current, and what you saw. Real, recent reports from divers are exactly what this guide is built to collect.
Send a conditions report ›