Roatan is amazing. Take advantage of the snorkeling or scuba diving, as it is home to the second-most popular reef among enthusiasts (popular in the badass sense, not in the billions of people sense).

Bananarama Resort (www.bananaramadive.com, P.O. Box 134, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras; phone 011-504-992-9679) offers scuba lessons and diving. -Punta Gorda. Located near the east end of Roatan.

I’M A FEW MILES off the western coast of Hawaii’s Big Island and some 40 feet underwater. There is no reef to gaze at, just open sea extending another 3,000 to 6,000 feet down.

ROATAN, HONDURAS—With a sharp tap of a metal carabiner on his scuba tank, dive-master Rino Jackson draws our attention to a fist-sized yellow lump tucked inside a tube sponge on the ocean floor ...