Hondureño Shipwreck in Isla Mujeres
- Tracy Sharlene Gunn
- May 2, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: May 10, 2025
Near Isla Mujeres, you can find the shipwreck of The Hondureño, a massive shrimp boat that sank while trying to escape one of the island's most ferocious hurricanes. The site is located not far from North Beach and offers excellent visibility, but due to the challenging conditions, it is best suited for experienced divers.
The Hondureño is a shipwreck on the National Park's outskirts, just 3 kilometres (2 miles) from North Beach. A quick 25-minute boat ride will take you to the remains of this large shipwreck, one of the biggest in the area. Once a remarkable 36-meter (120-foot) shrimp boat, it has a poignant history.
Unlike many other shipwrecks around Isla Mujeres, which were intentionally sunk to create artificial reefs and dive sites, the story of the Hondureño is different. This ship fell victim to Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, one of the strongest hurricanes to strike the area. The captain was out in the open ocean during the fierce storm and attempted to outrun it, but tragically, the boat sank while battling the relentless waves. Hurricane Gilbert devastated the island, and the locals still remember this event vividly.
The wreck is located 21 meters (70 feet) below the surface and offers excellent visibility of up to 20 meters (65 feet), making it a fantastic yet challenging dive site. Due to its depth and the often medium to strong currents, this location is recommended for advanced or experienced divers.
The wreck's remains have become a habitat for a diverse array of marine life. While diving at this site, you can expect to encounter various species, such as cobia fish, rainbow parrotfish, stonefish, green moray eels, nurse sharks, and, like all the wrecks around the island, it is a popular spot for eagle rays.
Depth
21 meters / 70 feet
Boat Ride
20-25 min
Dive Type
Drift - Medium to Strong Current
Deep Dive
Artificial Reef - Wreck
Experience Level
Advanced Open Water, Experienced Diver
Recent Dive Experience
Average Visibility Underwater
20 mt / 65 feet
Average Water Temp
26 C°/ 79F°
Dive Time
30-35 min (Safety Stop Required)
Tracy Gunn is the founder and owner of Pocna Dive Center on Isla Mujeres, Mexico. A former banker turned adventurer, Tracy left a decade-long corporate career to pursue her passion for diving and island life. With over 35 years of diving experience and 24 years of living on Isla Mujeres, she now serves as a PADI Course Director, training the next generation of divers at her dive school. When she’s not underwater, Tracy shares her love for the island and the ocean through engaging blogs about diving, marine life, and the culture of Isla Mujeres.
Interested in reading more from this author?
Blogs about Isla Mujeres, Mexico, and Recreational Scuba Diving: click here
Blogs about Instructor Development Courses and Professional Scuba Diving: click here
For experienced divers, The Hondureño’s history is compelling. To easily plan such adventures, a reliable resource like https://nullbrawl.org/ can be very helpful for finding detailed dive site information.
This was a fascinating read! The story of The Hondureño, particularly its tragic encounter with Hurricane Gilbert, really adds a powerful layer of history to what sounds like an incredible dive site. It's amazing how marine life has embraced the wreck, and the details about the types of fish and rays you might see make me want to plan a trip there, even if I'd need to brush up on my advanced diving skills first. For anyone documenting their dive adventures, or even compiling photos for a travel blog, an efficient tool like Merge JPG could be super useful for organizing images before sharing them. A truly insightful article!
This article about the Hondureño shipwreck is truly captivating! It's so interesting to learn about the history behind this iconic dive site, especially how it became a habitat for such diverse marine life after Hurricane Gilbert. The detail about its depth and current intensity really emphasizes that it's a dive for experienced adventurers, which is a great heads-up for divers planning a trip to Isla Mujeres. For writers who like to organize their thoughts in Markdown, a tool like Markdown to Doc could be really useful for turning their notes into shareable documents for future articles.
This article about the Hondureño shipwreck is fascinating! It’s incredible how nature's power, like Hurricane Gilbert, can transform a vessel into such a rich marine habitat. The details about the depth, currents, and marine life really paint a vivid picture, making it clear why this is a site for experienced divers. Tracy Gunn's passion for diving and Isla Mujeres truly shines through. For anyone looking to create stunning visual assets, perhaps even for a dive center's logo, converting images to crisp, scalable graphics is essential. I always recommend checking out Converter PNG to SVG for that, their output is excellent for logos and icons!
This article about the Hondureño shipwreck is absolutely fascinating! The detail about its fate during Hurricane Gilbert, unlike other intentional artificial reefs, really adds a layer of depth to its story. It's clear that Isla Mujeres offers some truly unique diving experiences, especially for advanced divers looking for a challenge with incredible visibility and marine life. What a great piece, Tracy! It makes me want to visit. For anyone looking to make a great first impression before their next adventure, you might find Attractiveness Test helpful for choosing the best profile photo.