Mr. Bud Wreck Coco View Resort Roatan

Martin Gomez Aug 12, 2026

12. Mr. Bud Wreck

Dive type: Wreck + reef + sand/rubble
Wreck length: ~75 ft / 23 m
Depth: ~60 ft / 18 m
Position: Upright
Main feature: A small wreck that has developed into an artificial reef, surrounded by sand and reef habitat
Best for: Wreck photography, macro life, slow exploration, and divers getting their first taste of wreck diving.

What makes Mr. Bud special?

Now we're changing the style of diving completely.

After exploring walls, cracks, coral ridges and overhangs, Mr. Bud gives us a wreck dive.

The wreck is approximately 75 feet long and sits at around 60 feet of water. A recent 2026 report describes Mr. Bud as a former Gulf shrimp boat sitting upright, with its bow positioned near the crest of the wall.

This makes Mr. Bud interesting because you don't have to choose between:

Wreck diving

Reef diving.

You can experience both during the same dive.

The experience

After descending, the shape of the vessel begins to appear beneath you.

At only about 75 feet long, Mr. Bud isn't an enormous wreck.

And that's actually part of its charm.

You can slow down and examine the wreck rather than spending the entire dive trying to cover a huge ship.

Think:

Wreck → coral growth → sand/rubble → reef edge → wall

There's something interesting in almost every direction.

It's an artificial reef

One of the best things to explain to a guest is that the wreck isn't interesting only because it used to be a boat.

Once a vessel remains underwater long enough, marine organisms begin colonizing it.

Eventually:

Metal structure → marine growth → habitat → artificial reef

Mr. Bud is a great example of that process.

Recent divers have specifically commented on how much coral growth has developed on the wreck over the years.

So don't look at Mr. Bud simply as:

“an old boat underwater.”

Look at it as:

“a boat that has become part of the reef ecosystem.”

The surrounding sand is important

Here's something that can easily be missed.

Don't spend the entire dive staring at the wreck.

The broad sand-and-rubble area surrounding Mr. Bud can be just as interesting.

A recent report describes yellowhead jawfish, tobaccofish, bottom-dwelling gobies, and smaller moray species such as chain and goldentail morays around this habitat.

Another Roatán dive operator also highlights possible encounters with seahorses, garden eels and stingrays around the site.

Those are possible encounters—not guarantees—but they tell us something important about how to dive Mr. Bud:

Look DOWN.

At some of our wall sites, I've repeatedly said:

“Remember to look into the blue.”

Here I'm adding:

“Remember to look at the sand.”

Macro photographers: slow down

Mr. Bud can be a particularly interesting site for macro photography.

A diver who swims straight to the wreck, circles it once and leaves may miss a lot.

Instead, inspect:

The wreck structure

Marine growth on the hull

Small openings

The sand surrounding the wreck

Rubble

The transition between wreck and reef

Recent CoCo View divers have also reported interesting nudibranch and muck-diving finds around Mr. Bud and nearby French Cay Cut.

Again, that doesn't mean you'll see the same animals every dive.

It means:

Slow down and search.

Wide-angle photography

Mr. Bud also works very well for wide angle.

A wreck naturally gives you something many reef dives don't:

a recognizable subject with a clear shape.

One classic composition would be:

Bow of Mr. Bud → diver above the wreck → blue water

Another:

Coral-covered wreck → diver alongside → reef/wall behind

Try getting a little distance from the wreck rather than photographing everything from two feet away.

The farther perspective helps show the entire vessel and its relationship to the reef.

Use a diver for scale

A diver beside the wreck makes the photograph much more powerful.

Without a person in the frame, someone looking at your photograph may not understand whether they're seeing something:

10 feet long,

30 feet long,

or 75 feet long.

Put a diver near the wreck and suddenly the viewer understands the scale.

Don't forget your buoyancy

Wrecks create a common problem.

Divers see something interesting and immediately move closer.

Then:

Camera comes out → attention goes to photograph → buoyancy disappears.

Maintain neutral buoyancy before concentrating on the wreck.

This is particularly important because you don't want to damage marine growth that has taken years to develop.

Wreck penetration is a different activity

This is an important distinction when briefing any wreck.

Seeing an opening doesn't automatically mean:

“Let's go inside.”

There is a major difference between:

Exploring the exterior of a wreck

and

Entering an overhead environment.

Actual wreck penetration introduces additional considerations involving training, equipment, gas management, navigation, entanglement hazards, silt and loss of direct access to the surface.

So unless the dive is specifically planned and appropriate for penetration:

Enjoy the wreck from the outside.

There's plenty to see.

Depth

At approximately 60 feet, Mr. Bud is considerably shallower than some famous Caribbean wreck dives.

That makes the site particularly appealing because divers can enjoy the feeling of exploring a real wreck without automatically needing a very deep profile.

But 60 feet still affects:

Gas consumption

No-decompression time

Light and color

Buoyancy

So continue monitoring your computer and gas just as you would on any other dive.

Mr. Bud vs. the reef dives

This is where our CoCo View site tour becomes much more interesting.

Until now, most of our sites have been about natural geology and coral structure.

Mr. Bud introduces a human-made structure.

Compare:

Mary’s Place → geology

Calvin’s Crack → geology

John’s Spot → wall

Little French Cay → coral structure

Missing Link → coral formations

Mr. Bud → artificial reef

The environment changes, and so does the way you explore it.

Mr. Bud vs. Prince Albert

This is the comparison guests are going to ask about.

Mr. Bud

~75 ft vessel
~60 ft depth
Smaller wreck
Boat + sand/rubble + reef environment

Prince Albert

~140 ft vessel
Sits upright around 65 ft
Much larger wreck
Located directly in CoCo View's Front Yard
Accessible as a shore dive and popular as a night dive.

So I would remember them like this:

Mr. Bud = small wreck to explore slowly.

Prince Albert = major wreck experience right in CoCo View's Front Yard.

How I would describe Mr. Bud to a guest

“Mr. Bud is a great change of pace from our wall dives. It's a roughly 75-foot wreck sitting at about 60 feet, and over time it has become an artificial reef. Don't just look at the boat—slow down and explore the marine growth on the wreck and the sand and rubble surrounding it. That area can be excellent for smaller marine life. It's a really nice dive because you get the wreck, the reef and the surrounding habitat all in one site.”

A simple way to remember Mr. Bud

Mr. Bud = 75-ft wreck + 60-ft depth + artificial reef + macro opportunities.

Site	What to remember
Mary’s Place	Cracks & channels
Calvin’s Crack	Descending crevice
Menagerhea’s Reef	Ledges, overhangs & sponges
Carib Point	Sea fans & schooling fish
Castle Canyon	Shallow reef formations
Chimney’s	Coral boulders & dramatic wall
Gold Chain Reef	Hard corals, slope & sand
Inside Outside	Lettuce Coral & narrow cuts
John’s Spot	Coral ridges & steep wall
Little French Cay	Shallow reef & overhangs
Missing Link	Hard-coral hedges & schooling fish
Mr. Bud	Wreck, artificial reef & macro life

Next: Neverstain Bight. We'll go back to natural reef diving and break down its reef profile, topography, marine life, photography opportunities, and how to explain the site during a guest briefing.