The First PADI Eco Center in Roatan
Being “Always Eco-Active” isn’t just one of our core values — it’s a commitment. As Roatan’s first PADI Eco Center, we proudly support the PADI AWARE Blueprint for Ocean Action, driving real change through marine conservation, sustainable diving practices, and community partnerships. From coral restoration initiatives to ocean cleanups, we’re dedicated to protecting Roatan’s vibrant marine ecosystem while empowering the people who live, work, and play in the waves here.
Looking for ways to volunteer in Roatan? We offer meaningful opportunities to get involved and make an impact.
At Sun Divers, we’re all about good vibes and great dives—but our mission goes beyond having a good time blowing bubbles. Together, we’re creating a wave of positive change for Roatan’s reefs and coastal communities. Dive with purpose when you dive with us.
Marine Conservation
Restore Roatan’s Reefs
Healthy reefs are vital to marine ecosystems which is why we love training divers to help to grow and transplant resilient coral species through the Roatan Marine Park’s Coral Reef Restoration certification. Our divers get hands-on experience assisting with these restoration projects, giving them a deeper connection to the reef and its recovery.
Growing coral in nurseries and outplanting them onto the reef is one way that we can aid in the resilience and recovery of the reef. How so? Read more here.
We also support the Roatan Marine Park’s annual Coral Spawn Watch by providing boats transportation, tanks and volunteers. During coral spawning monitoring, data is collected about the reproductive cycles of specific coral species and gamete (sex cells) are fertilized in a lab setting to enhance success rates. Learn more about the sexual coral restoration collaboration project with Secore International and how you might be able to witness the magic of this natural phenomenon while improving the resilience of Roatan’s reefs.
Dive Against Debris
As part of the PADI AWARE Adopt the Blue program, Sun Divers cares for the Candela Zen dive site adjacent to the Anthony’s Key channel in Sandy Bay. While we’re very fortunate that trash pollution does not impact the majority of dive sites in Roatan, Candela’s Zen is a beautiful site that unfortunately finds itself in the path of runoff from local communities and currents that carry waste from other countries.
We conduct routine Dives Against Debris at the site and make that a focal point of how we celebrate Blue Friday, MesoAmerican Reef Day and Earth Day.
In 2021, Sun Divers adopted three dive sites in Roatan to which we committed our stewardship: Blue Channel, Shallow Aquario and Saaya’s. The adoption was the catalyst for the Roatan Marine Park to create a formal Adopt a Dive Site program to encourage local dive shops to support SCTLD mitigation efforts. In collaboration with the Roatan Marine Park and the Bay Islands Conservation Agency, we held bi-monthly eco-dives to monitor these sites for Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (learn more about SCTLD here) and treat affected corals.
Join our Beach Cleanups
Since 2023, Sun Divers has hosted monthly beach cleanups with partners like the Roatan Marine Park, Inland Ocean Coalition and BICA.
Each month, we come together as a community to give Half Moon Bay & Beach the glow up it deserves. Every piece of trash picked up is one less piece of pollution that enters our waterways.
Volunteers can choose to collect trash along the coastline in West End or in the bay while snorkeling. Cleanups usually take only an hour and then it’s off to our neighbor Sundowners where volunteers receive happy hour prices on drinks for the night.
Want to leave Half Moon Bay more beautiful than you found it? Ask us for the date of our next cleanup!
Community Partnerships
Charity Golf Tournament benefitting the Sol Foundation
Every fall, the Sun Divers Charity Golf Tournament brings the community together to enjoy a day on the green and support one of Roatan’s most important non-profit organizations: SOL International Foundation. SOL works to initiate and support community based programs designed to promote education and increase the quality of life for Roatan’s youth. The annual event is held at the Black Pearl at Pristine Bay – a Pete Dye-designed 18-hole golf course with jaw dropping views of the ocean. And the Awards Ceremony is always a good time at the Roatan Island Brewing Co.
The Annual Dip & Sip: A PADI Women’s Dive Day Event
What could be more fun than diving with a group of amazing women and then socializing over sunset cocktails? Doing all that knowing it’s benefitting local girls in Roatan. The Sun Divers and Sundowners Annual Dip & Sip takes place every year on Women’s Dive Day with 100% of your ticket cost donated to the Roatan Peer Health Exchange. These funds support their International Girls Day event where young women from Roatan attend a series of workshops designed to educate them about reproductive health, mental health and important life skills. Additional funds are also used to support the ROA GIRLS DIVE scholarship program.
ROA GIRLS DIVE! Scuba Certification Scholarship Program
Sun Divers, Roatan Peer Health Exchange and PADI are partnering up to get more ROA GIRLS DIVING! This scholarship program certifies young women in Roatan in all recreational scuba diving courses from Open Water to Divemaster. Our goal is to enrich their lives, develop our future’s environmental stewards and create awareness of the professional pathways that these young women can take in the scuba diving industry.
Learn more about the lives we’ve already touched through this program, and how you can sponsor a Roatan girl to achieve her scuba diving certification today.
BICA Certification Project
The Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA) is an important co-manager of the Bay Islands National Marine Park (BINMP). They conduct important scientific research and conservation activities that support the sustainability of the Mesoamerican Reef. Ensuring that there staff members have the sufficient scuba certification levels to safely and responsibly conduct their eco-dives is a must, but cost is a major barrier for this not-for-profit organization. We believe that the work that BICA does is important to marine conservation in Roatan and we are supporting their efforts by donating certifications to their staff from Open Water to Rescue Diver. The course is cost-free to BICA staff and Sun Divers instructors are volunteering their time to help their fellow ocean advocates.
