Chimney’s Coco View Resort Roatan
Martin Gomez Aug 12, 2026
6. Chimney’s
Dive type: Reef + wall + swim-through topography
Main attraction: Underwater passages and dramatic reef structure
Best for: Divers who enjoy topography, controlled swim-throughs, and wide-angle photography
Important skills: Buoyancy, trim, situational awareness, and good fin control
What makes Chimney’s special?
Chimney’s brings us back to one of the things that makes the south side of Roatán so much fun: underwater topography.
CoCo View operates on Roatán’s south shore, where the reef commonly begins in relatively shallow water before dropping into a wall. The area features sand chutes, coral formations, and a mixture of hard, soft, and fan corals.
Chimney’s takes advantage of that structure. Rather than being a dive where you simply follow the edge of the wall, it's a site to explore the formations of the reef itself.
The experience
The best way to approach Chimney’s is slowly.
As you move across the reef, the terrain becomes part of the navigation. Openings and passages in the reef create the feeling of moving through the structure rather than simply swimming beside it.
That's what separates a topography-focused dive from an ordinary wall dive.
The fun is in watching the environment change around you:
Open reef → tighter formation → passage → blue water → open reef again.
That change of perspective is what makes sites like this memorable.
Why the name “Chimney’s”?
The name gives you a good mental picture of the site.
Think of a chimney-like opening through the reef, where the surrounding coral structure creates a more enclosed environment before opening back into brighter water.
It produces a completely different sensation from hovering alongside an exposed wall.
For a diver, one of the most dramatic views can be looking toward an opening and seeing bright blue water framed by the darker reef.
Don't rush the swim-through
This is important when briefing the site.
Some divers hear “swim-through” and immediately make reaching the passage their entire objective.
I would encourage the opposite.
Slow down.
Look at the walls and openings around you. Maintain your position. Give the diver ahead of you some space.
The topography is much more impressive when you're not concentrating on the fins directly in front of your mask.
Buoyancy and fin control
This is one of those dives where good buoyancy becomes especially valuable.
When you're in open water beside a wall, you have considerable room to adjust your position.
Inside or near a reef passage, you have less room.
You want:
Neutral buoyancy
Horizontal trim
Controlled fin kicks
Good spacing between divers
A frog kick or modified kick can be particularly useful when appropriate because it reduces the chance of kicking downward toward the reef.
The objective is simple:
Enjoy the structure without touching it.
Marine life
Chimney’s shouldn't be sold around one guaranteed animal encounter.
The attraction is the combination of reef structure and the marine life living around it.
Take time to inspect protected areas around the formations, but also remember one of the golden rules of Roatán wall diving:
Look into the blue.
It's very easy to spend an entire dive staring at the reef two feet in front of your mask and miss whatever may be swimming behind you.
CoCo View notes that Roatán's south-side reefs support abundant marine life along with soft, hard, and fan corals.
Photography
Chimney’s is naturally suited to wide-angle photography.
The reef itself provides your frame.
One of the strongest compositions would be:
Dark reef in foreground → diver inside or approaching the opening → bright blue water beyond.
That gives the photograph depth and scale.
Another possibility is shooting upward toward a diver with sunlight entering from above.
And this is where having another diver in the photograph can be especially valuable. Without a person, it can be difficult to appreciate the size of an underwater formation.
Diver level
I wouldn't classify the entire site simply as “advanced” based on the name or topography alone.
But a diver entering tighter formations should be comfortable with buoyancy and trim.
The important distinction when talking to guests is:
Being certified to a certain level and being comfortable inside a swim-through aren't necessarily the same thing.
If someone doesn't feel comfortable entering a passage, there's no reason to pressure them. They can enjoy the surrounding reef while following the dive master's plan.
Chimney’s vs. Calvin’s Crack
This is a useful comparison because guests may think the two dives sound similar.
Calvin’s Crack has a stronger sense of descent. You enter the crack and follow the formation downward toward the wall.
Chimney’s is more about the experience of moving through and around reef openings and formations.
So I would remember them this way:
Calvin’s Crack = descend through the reef.
Chimney’s = explore through the reef.
Chimney’s vs. Mary’s Place
Mary’s Place gives you the sensation of swimming between towering sides of a crack.
Chimney’s gives you more of the sensation of discovering openings within the reef structure.
Both are topography dives, but visually they tell different stories.
How I would describe it to a guest
“Chimney’s is a great dive for anyone who enjoys underwater topography. Instead of simply following a wall, you get to explore the reef formations and swim around—and, where appropriate, through—some of its openings. Take your time, keep good buoyancy and spacing, and look back toward the blue water when you're inside the formations. Some of the most beautiful views happen when the light and blue water frame another diver against the reef.”
A simple way to remember Chimney’s
Chimney’s = reef openings + topography + light.
And our collection is becoming quite diverse:
| Site | What to remember |
|---|---|
| Mary’s Place | Cracks and channels |
| Calvin’s Crack | Descending crevice |
| Menagerhea’s Reef | Wall, ledges & sponges |
| Carib Point | Sea fans & schooling fish |
| Castle Canyon | Shallow reef formations |
| Chimney’s | Reef openings & topography |
CoCo View's current diving program combines moored sites with drop dives, while guests also have unlimited access to its Front Yard shore diving, so understanding these different types of sites is useful when explaining how varied a week of diving there can be.
Next: Gold Chain Reef. That one will let us shift our attention away from swim-throughs and concentrate more on reef structure, coral life, and the small details divers can discover when they slow down.
