El Aquila (The Eagle) is a 230 ft double deck cargo vessel that sank about 8 years ago near Utila Island but was brought over to Roatan fairly recently so there is little growth obscuring the original freighter. It rests at a depth of 100 feet with very easy to distinguish decks, halls, rooms and portholes.

I found this to be a very interesting a wreck because that fact it was so intact I felt like ghost. Floating up the steps instead climbing them, floating down hallways and peering into rooms through portholes was a ghostlike feeling. It was as though I was viewing life through another dimension. I was even able to put myself in the place of the captain, steering the boat.

The nice sandy bottom surround the wreck is an excellent locations for not only viewing, but actually be able to photograph those cute little garden eels popping there heads up from the sand. After a viewing the wreck rise shallower depths a brief distance from the ship to outgas nitrogen and enjoy huge boulders of coral with large schools of blue tangs and yellow striped grunts.

Although this is a deeper dive for intermediate divers, I was so relaxed that it was very easy to spend an hour diving and surfacing with plenty of air.

As a side note, 1.5 days before I was to depart I was talked into getting my advanced certification for $50. I was given mathematical problems written horizontally on piece of paper to add while being timed. As I had read as well as been told, nitrogen narcosis, can begin as shallows as 80 feet, but typically begins at 100 feet with the level of feeling "narced" varying for each individual. I was given the same number of problems and timed again. Typical of the person I am, I actually did the problems faster and got them all correct.