What you can see on the West End cam
The camera looks out from the shaded deck of a dive centre, over its dock and its racks of gear, to the boats tied up alongside and the open water beyond. It shows the colour and the swell of the sea, the weather coming in over the island and the daily rhythm of the dock: the gear laid out, the boats getting ready and the divers coming and going.
The dive dock at West End
From under the shade sails of a dive centre's deck, this camera looks along its wooden dock and over the racks of gear to the dive boats tied up alongside and the open sea beyond, with the coast of the island in the distance.
Through the day it shows the weather and the swell, and the life of the dock: tanks and fins set out, boats loading up and divers getting ready to head out to the reef.
Diving from West End
West End is one of the main diving centres of Roatán, and dive shops line its waterfront. The reef runs close to the shore along this coast, inside the Roatán Marine Park, and many dive sites are only a short boat ride from the village docks. At Half Moon Bay, at the northern end of the village, snorkellers swim out to the coral straight from the beach. It is also a common place to take a first diving course.
When to watch West End
Honduras keeps Central Standard Time all year, six hours behind UTC. Mornings are the busiest time on the docks, as the boats go out. The water is usually clearest on calm, sunny days in spring and summer, while the autumn rains and the winter northers can stir it up for a while.
Around West End
West Bay, with its long white beach and its reef, is just to the south, a few minutes away by water taxi. Coxen Hole, the main town of the island, and the airport lie to the east, and the rest of Roatán, with its cays, its bays and its mangroves, stretches for some 60 km (37 miles) beyond.
Getting to West End
Roatán's international airport, near Coxen Hole, has flights from the United States and from mainland Honduras, and ferries cross from La Ceiba. From the airport, taxis to West End take about twenty minutes.
