Guanaja Rising    Sports Diver Magazine

We’re hovering over Southwest Cay. The water’s so clear it seems we can see to the bottom of the ocean from our bird’s-eye view. From 100 feet above the sea, we can easily see a dark spot on the seafloor on the ocean side. It’s the Jado Trader, a 240-foor island freighter that was sunk as an artificial reef in 110 feet of water. Massive grouper, legions of yellowtail and even the occasional shark call this site home. But now, we’re headed for Clark’s Cay, a small private island off the east coast of Guanaja.

The owner of Clark’s Cay, a successful businessman from Navarre, Florida, has taken Guanaja under his wing, and the Island’s resurgence is palpable. He’s brought in craftspeople, doctors, dentist and other trade professionals to train the local people, giving them the knowledge, skills and tools to fill the infrastructure needs of a burgeoning hot spot.

There was a time during the 1980’s when Guanaja was the “it” place for edge-of-the-earth diving. But dive resorts that were once filled to the brim with intrepid divers year-round now sadly sit in ruins. But, it’s on the map again. And the diving that once filled the pages of dive magazines with superlatives has waited patiently to once again entertain divers from around the globe. Topside, the island still remains a slow-paced outpost of incredible beauty. Its famed Bonacca Town still thrives, an island in the lagoon, part Venice, part pirate village, where most of Guanaja’s inhabitants live, especially now with the Florida connection.

Forgotten undersea kingdoms circle the island. Although the Jado Trader remains one of the Caribbean’s best wreck dives, sites such as Jim’s Silver lode and Vertigo, also off Southwest Cay, are once again reclaiming their place in logbooks. Both sites sit along the barrier reef that wraps around the island like a string of emeralds. And steep walls at both sites are thick with deepwater sea fans, massive barrel sponges, soft corals, sea rods and a dizzying array of marine life, with grouper, yellowtail, queen angels and a host of eels leading the parade. But if you want to try the locals’ favorite dive, you’ll need to head to the island’s west coast, just outside the canal that cuts the island in half. To a place simply called the Pinnacle.

The pinnacle rises from a sand bottom at 135 feet to within 55 feet of the surface. Black coral forests dominate the seascape, along with piles of marine life, from schools of jacks to sharks to clouds of blue chromis. Most dives on this site are spent spiraling up from depth to the peak of the Pinnacle. And if this is where the locals go, you’ll definitely want to request this dive – perhaps a few times.

But the true testament to the untouched and renewed allure of Guanaja are the dive resorts such as Castaways Resort, Coral Bay Dive Resort, end of the World Resort and Nautilus Dive Resort. Divers will once again be including Guanaja on their must-dive life lists. And if you’d like to engage in a bit of philanthropy, contact the owners of Clark’s Cay, and they’ll arrange some class time for you with island people who are fully ready to put their home came back on the dive-travel map.