A woman in a pink floral organza ballgown and a tall pink wig holds a feathered fan on a sandy floor between two reef walls, sunbeams falling through the water above her.

Ordinary people, impossible pictures

Roatán 2027: Dive Trip and Underwater Modeling Workshop

Six days of diving the world's second-largest barrier reef, and a set of pictures of you that nobody back home will believe.

WhenJune 12, 2027 – June 19, 2027
WhereTurquoise Bay Resort, Honduras
Stay8 days, 7 nights, all-inclusive

A week on the world’s second-largest reef

The Mesoamerican reef runs the length of Roatán, and the water off Turquoise Bay is warm and clear, with shallow reef close to the dock. For one week in June, a small group of divers and models explores sand channels between coral walls, sunken wrecks, and submerged caverns where the light comes down in shafts.

If you’re coming to model, you don’t need any experience. The week starts in the classroom and the resort pool with breath-hold and posing, so by the time the boats go out you’ve already rehearsed every move you’ll make on the reef. Models go home with a preview gallery and eight retouched images.

The workshop has 8 exclusive model spots. Keeping the group this small means every model gets one-on-one training and a week shaped around their own pictures. Divers, non-divers and partners are welcome in any number.

A mermaid in a blue tail floats between two tall reef walls above a sand channel, one hand at her head, sunlight on the water above her.

A mermaid with white hair and a shell crown lies on pale sand beside a reef wall, her blue and copper tail raised behind her.

A mermaid in a green tail and purple top reaches toward the surface, sun rays fanning down over the reef below her.

  • Creating an environment where we felt safe—both physically and psychologically—to try new things, push ourselves, and just enjoy being there.

    @mermanchatravee, Roatán 2026 trip guest

  • Safe doesn't even begin to describe it. It was so comforting. It's like I'd done it a million times before.

    Megan Johnson, Roatán 2026 trip guest

  • From my first pool shoot, walking in with no experience in front of the camera or underwater, all the way to my most recent trip with them doing scuba assisted modeling in a shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean in Bali, it's been a dream! A dream that AI just can't compete with!

    T M, Bali trip guest

  • So thrilled with all my photos from this shoot. Amazing photography and coaching.

    Rachel Lane Walden, Roatán trip guest

  • If you're on the fence about booking one, get off that fence and sign up—you won't regret it.

    Christine Interone-Cutter, Roatán 2026 trip guest, 33rd wedding anniversary

  • I have a practice of pushing myself to do things that gently push myself out of my comfort zone, and this definitely was that.

    the.kauai.mermaid, Roatán 2026 trip guest

Four years in the same water

We have been running modeling workshops on Roatán for over four years. We know these reefs, the boats and the dive crew.

No one else gives you the opportunity for a week of scuba-assisted modeling on locations you’d never reach otherwise. Most underwater modeling happens on a single breath near the surface. Here you breathe the whole time: you hold a pose for as long as the picture needs, on reefs and wrecks a single breath could never reach, with a dedicated team of experienced safety divers and instructors beside you.

  • Eight retouched images Every model leaves with a preview gallery and eight retouched images.
  • Safety divers beside you A safety diver is with every model on every reef session, and Justin is a dive instructor.
  • Partners welcome Divers, non-divers and partners come along in any number.

The whole group in costume on the beach at dusk, gathered around a giant "Submerge" sand sculpture, thatched palapas behind them.

A night-time group photo on the beach, hosts and guests in colorful outfits under the palms.

All-inclusive, all week

Your room, every meal, drinks including alcohol, Wi-Fi, airport transfers and the diving are all included, from the moment you land to the moment you leave.

  • Your room Seven nights at Turquoise Bay, with a private balcony.
  • Every meal Three a day at the resort restaurant, plus snacks.
  • Drinks Alcohol and every other drink, included.
  • Airport transfers Included, between the airport and Turquoise Bay.
  • The diving Three boat dives a day and a night dive, for every diver.

You don’t have to model

Here for the diving?

This is a full dive trip: six days of boat dives on quiet reefs off Roatán’s north shore, with the portrait sessions happening alongside. Divers who don’t model are as welcome on this trip as anyone, and we’d love to have you.

  • Small groups: six to twelve divers to a boat, with a PADI Divemaster on every dive.
  • Reefs to yourselves: the resort’s dive center is the only operator on this side of the island.
  • A day at West End: dives on the other side of the island, lunch at the Mayan Princess, and a night dive.
  • Sharks, if you want them: the Cara Cara dive, with a dozen Caribbean reef sharks.

A scuba diver swims through a dark cave opening toward blue water, sunlight on the rock around the arch.

A woman in a yellow satin gown floats with one arm raised in a sea cavern, shafts of light falling through gaps in the roof and a cloud of small fish around her.

How the workshop works

Every model on the trip follows the same arc: learn in the classroom, rehearse in the pool, shoot on the reef, look at the pictures together, then go again with everything you learned the day before.

  • Workshop guests around a long wooden table on the resort deck, one of them gesturing as a posing slide shows on a laptop, the pool and the sea behind. Classroom, then the pool The week opens with a classroom session on breath-hold, buoyancy, posing and how we communicate underwater. Day two is spent in the resort pool putting all of that into practice with the safety divers beside you, so every move you’ll make on the reef is rehearsed before we go near open water.
  • A woman in a burgundy satin skirt and a bodice of layered pearls turns on one foot over a reef, one hand in her hair, deep blue water above. Then the reef, on scuba Three portrait sessions in open water, shot from private boats on the shallow reefs around the island. You bring the wardrobe we planned together, and each session goes somewhere different.
  • A mermaid in a pale tail rests on the bow of a sunken ship in deep blue water, a long mast rising behind her. Every evening, the pictures After dinner we go through the day’s frames together: what worked, what to try tomorrow. It’s where most people see how fast they’re getting better. You leave with a preview gallery and eight retouched images.

What every model gets

  • Pre-trip consultation Wardrobe, hair and makeup planned with us before you fly.
  • Coaching all week One-on-one breath-hold and posing coaching, from the pool to the reef.
  • Three reef sessions Scuba-assisted portraits from private boats, with a safety diver beside you.
  • Evening debriefs The day’s pictures on screen together, and what to try tomorrow.
  • A preview gallery Every frame from the trip, and you choose your favorites.
  • Eight retouched images Finished by us from the favorites you choose.

Day by day

Optional extras are in italics. Everything else is part of the package. This is a sample itinerary, and the order of days and activities may change with weather and dive conditions.

  • Day 1Arrive
    • Fly into Roatán (RTB)
    • 45-minute transfer to Turquoise Bay
    • Underwater modeling classroom session
  • Day 2The pool
    • Warm-up and relaxation
    • Breath-hold coaching
    • Pool demonstrations
    • Practice sessions with the safety divers
    • Up to three boat dives
    • Evening pool portrait session
  • Day 3Open water
    • Portrait sessions on the reef
    • Up to three boat dives
    • Beach sunset portrait session
  • Day 4Open water
    • Portrait sessions on the reef
    • Up to three boat dives
    • Beach sunset portrait session
  • Day 5West End
    • Three dives off West End
    • Lunch at the Mayan Princess
    • Night dive
  • Day 6Sharks
    • Portrait sessions on the reef
    • Up to three boat dives
    • Cara Cara shark dive
  • Day 7Last shoot
    • Portrait sessions on the reef
    • Up to two boat dives
    • Farewell party
    • Zipline tour
    • Sloth and monkey tour
    • Beach sunset portrait session
  • Day 8Home
    • Transfer to the airport

Who you'll be in the water with

Travel and underwater art are the two things we love most, and these trips are where they meet. Between us we’ve shot from the Maldives and Raja Ampat to the Red Sea, Bonaire and the cenotes of the Yucatán, and we’ve taken groups of aspiring underwater models all over the world. Justin comes from film, so every portrait is built like a cinematic shot. Abbey has spent her career performing underwater and coaching first-timers through their first breath-holds. What we love most is watching someone’s confidence grow in leaps and bounds over a single week, once they realize what they’re able to do.

  • Justin Lutsky, Underwater Photographer & Cinematographer

    Justin Lutsky

    Underwater Photographer & Cinematographer

    PADI Dive Instructor · Lifeguard

  • Abbey Blake, Underwater Performer & Talent Coach

    Abbey Blake

    Underwater Performer & Talent Coach

    PADI Mermaid Instructor · Freediver · Lifeguard

How SCUBA-assisted sessions work

Modeling on scuba

Every portrait session on the reef is shot on scuba. Working on air with a team of safety divers puts you on wrecks, in submerged caverns and along reef walls that a breath-hold alone can’t reach, and lets you wear gowns, tails and costumes you could never work in on a single breath.

It’s also the most relaxing way to shoot. Swimming up and down between every frame is what tires a model out, and on air you stay where you are. A team of experienced divers is around you the whole time, watching you and nothing else. All that’s left for you to do is perform. We communicate underwater between shots, make adjustments, and keep going until it’s right.

Shoots like this were once reserved for film productions and a handful of well-known performers. On our trips they are open to anyone ready to learn, and plenty of our models had only just learned to dive. By the end of the week they’re posing on a shipwreck on the sea floor, floating above the coral and dancing through the fish like they have gills. Most of them are ordinary people who found out what they could do once the right training and the right team were around them.

It starts in a classroom session on the concepts: breath-hold, buoyancy, posing, and how we talk to each other underwater. Then every model trains in the pool, practicing the skills and rehearsing the session before we go anywhere near the reef. Abbey coaches you through every step, and Justin, who shoots every session, is an experienced dive instructor and public safety diver.

A safety diver and a mermaid in a blue and purple tail hover side by side over a reef, both pointing at a barracuda swimming past. Two safety divers steady a mermaid in a blue tail among the rocks of a cavern, a column of bubbles rising behind them.

Turquoise Bay Resort from the air: a row of thatched overwater cabanas at the end of a wooden pier, the beach and main buildings along the shore, green hills rising behind.

Roatán

Roatán is the largest of Honduras’s Bay Islands, about 30 miles off the north coast: 36 miles long and less than five wide, with rainforest on the hills, mangroves along the shore and the reef running around the whole island. The sea is warm all summer.

  • Water around 83°F The June average.
  • Hot and humid Long summer days, with about 13 hours of daylight.
  • Short showers Rain in June tends to come in brief bursts, usually in the afternoon.
HondurasBelizeGuatemalaCaribbean SeaRoatán
Open in Google Maps

Turquoise Bay

Turquoise Bay is the only dive resort on Roatán’s quiet northeast shore, and your home for the week.

Thatched palapas and loungers on a white sand beach under a blue sky, the sea behind them.

The resort

A hillside of gardens above the longest private beach on the island, a pool, a beach bar under the palapas, and kayaks in a bay kept calm by a mangrove island and the reef offshore.

Meals are at Udarau, the resort’s restaurant, and everything you eat and drink is included.

The resort pool from above, a kidney-shaped pool with loungers and green umbrellas on the terrace.

A thatched-roof restaurant deck with set tables looking out to the beach and palapas.

Low mangrove islands on calm turquoise water beside the resort's wooden deck.

A wide wooden deck under a pergola beside the resort buildings.

Guests sunbathing on blue loungers beside the pool, palms and green umbrellas behind them.

A restaurant table set with turquoise cloths and napkins and fresh flowers, a painted mural on the wall beyond.

A king bed with a turquoise runner and towel animals, a balcony door open to the garden.

Your room

Every room is the same size, 250 square feet, with air conditioning, a private balcony, a fridge, a safe and a coffee machine, and a King bed or two Fulls. Ocean View rooms sit up on the bluff, looking out over the palms to the sea. Hillside rooms are 45 steps up.

Rates are per person, for a shared room or a room of your own.

An Ocean View King room: a king bed on a timber frame with red petals and towel animals, ceiling fans overhead.

An Ocean View Double room: two beds with red bases and carved wooden headboards, white curtains at the windows.

A Hillside room: two beds under a ceiling fan, a teal wall and a bright patterned chair.

A white dive boat named Noah moored in the bay.

The dive center

Turquoise Divers runs the diving from the resort’s own dock. It’s a PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Center and a National Geographic Dive Center, and the only operator diving this side of the island, so you rarely share a site with another boat. Groups are six to twelve divers to a boat and a PADI Divemaster leads every dive.

Three boat dives a day are included, plus a night dive. When the north shore is too rough, the boats go out from the south side instead and that day has two dives rather than three. Nitrox is available for an additional fee.

A Caribbean reef shark glides low over the reef, its pale underside and pectoral fins lit by the blue water above.

Face to face with the sharks

Cara Cara, Spanish for “face to face”, is Roatán’s famous shark dive, run by the Waihuka Dive Center on the south side of the island. A dozen Caribbean reef sharks, all of them female and some ten feet long, come in close while you settle at the base of a low wall, so nothing ever approaches from behind.

Toward the end of the dive, the divemaster opens a bucket of fish and the real show begins. The sharks leave when the bucket is empty, and that’s your signal to surface.

A Caribbean reef shark cruises through deep blue water, a diver with a camera hanging in the water beneath its belly.

  • 70 feet The maximum depth, with 30 to 35 minutes on the bottom.
  • 80 feet of visibility Typical on the plateau where you settle.
  • Advanced Open Water Required for this dive.
  • Optional add-on Open to any diver on the trip, with the price confirmed when you book.

Also available at the resort

Divers and non-divers can add any of these through Deep Blue. Pricing is available on request.

  • Cara Cara shark dive A dozen Caribbean reef sharks, for Advanced Open Water divers.
  • Sloth and monkey tour A land tour on day seven.
  • Zipline tour Through the forest canopy on day seven.
  • Nitrox For divers who want longer bottom times.
  • Discover Scuba A first try at breathing underwater, for non-divers.
  • Snorkel trips A boat day on the reef for snorkelers.
  • Massages and spa Treatments at the resort.
  • Rental gear Anything beyond the tanks and weights that come with the diving.

Our travel partner

The travel, taken care of

Our trips are arranged with Deep Blue Adventures, a dive and adventure travel company that has been planning trips like this one since 2004. They take care of the details from the moment you leave home until you're back, and someone is there for you 24 hours a day, every day of the year, if anything goes wrong while you're away.

We chose them for more than the logistics. Deep Blue was founded by Cheryl Patterson, a scuba instructor with more than 35 years in travel, and their specialists are divers themselves. They believe world-class travel should be open to people from all walks of life, and they put as much into making these trips life-changing as we do.

Deep Blue Adventures
  • Since 2004 Planning dive and adventure travel
  • 24/7/365 Emergency help while you travel
  • Licensed, bonded and insured

IATA# 36629655. CSOT# 2104067-40. FSOT# ST39041.

Pricing

Trip rates

Includes your room, all meals and snacks, drinks including alcohol, airport transfers and the diving. This travel part is arranged by Deep Blue Adventures, who invoice and take payment for it under their own terms. The modeling workshop and photo add-ons are invoiced separately and paid to Submerge. The totals below add the two together so you can see the full cost.

Part 1 · Paid to Deep Blue Adventures

Your travel

Room, meals, transfers and the diving.

Ocean View

King or two Full beds. Rooms sit up on the bluff, looking out over the sea.

Diver, shared room

$1,965per person, taxes includedBudget $2,185 with recommended gratuities

Dive crew, $25 a diving dayrecommended gratuity
$150
Resort staff, $10 a nightrecommended gratuity
$70

Diver, own room

$2,191per person, taxes includedBudget $2,411 with recommended gratuities

Dive crew, $25 a diving dayrecommended gratuity
$150
Resort staff, $10 a nightrecommended gratuity
$70

Non-diver, shared room

$1,489per person, taxes includedBudget $1,559 with recommended gratuities

Resort staff, $10 a nightrecommended gratuity
$70

Non-diver, own room

$1,715per person, taxes includedBudget $1,785 with recommended gratuities

Resort staff, $10 a nightrecommended gratuity
$70

Hillside

King or two Full beds. Hillside rooms are 45 steps up.

Diver, shared room

$1,846per person, taxes includedBudget $2,066 with recommended gratuities

Dive crew, $25 a diving dayrecommended gratuity
$150
Resort staff, $10 a nightrecommended gratuity
$70

Diver, own room

$2,072per person, taxes includedBudget $2,292 with recommended gratuities

Dive crew, $25 a diving dayrecommended gratuity
$150
Resort staff, $10 a nightrecommended gratuity
$70

Non-diver, shared room

$1,370per person, taxes includedBudget $1,440 with recommended gratuities

Resort staff, $10 a nightrecommended gratuity
$70

Non-diver, own room

$1,596per person, taxes includedBudget $1,666 with recommended gratuities

Resort staff, $10 a nightrecommended gratuity
$70

Part 2 · Paid to Submerge

Your workshop, optional

Modeling coaching and the photo sessions, added to a diver rate.

Workshop guests sit on the pool edge with their hands at their masks while a coach in a blue rash guard stands in the water facing them.Photographers and safety divers in scuba gear work around a model in the green light of a reef cavern.

Upgrade

The modeling workshop

Add $1,250 per person

Everything that makes this a modeling trip, added to a diver rate: the coaching, the portrait sessions on the reef with the safety team, and the pictures.

Ocean View, Diver, shared room, with the workshopbudget $3,435 with recommended gratuities
$3,215
Hillside, Diver, shared room, with the workshopbudget $3,316 with recommended gratuities
$3,096
Ocean View, Diver, own room, with the workshopbudget $3,661 with recommended gratuities
$3,441
Hillside, Diver, own room, with the workshopbudget $3,542 with recommended gratuities
$3,322
  • Breath-hold and posing coaching in the pool
  • Three scuba-assisted portrait sessions on the reef
  • Evening reviews of the day's pictures
  • A preview gallery and eight retouched images
  • Wardrobe and styling call before you fly
  • A classroom session on underwater modeling

Optional extras

  • A woman lies on the sand at sunset, a blue and orange patterned fabric draped behind her, the sky a deep orange.

    Beach sunset portrait session

    $250

    A dry portrait on the beach at sunset, on the swings over the water if you like. Two extra retouched images.

  • A woman in a red and orange floral dress rises on her toes toward the surface, one arm lifted, sunlight and rays of light streaming across a pale pool floor.

    Evening pool portrait session

    $250

    A private 30-minute session in the pool after dark, lit in color. Two extra retouched images.

  • A woman in a gold gown with a long trailing skirt stands on a sandy ledge between two reef walls, light shimmering through the water above.

    Extra open-water portrait session

    $395

    One more scuba-assisted session on the reef. Three extra retouched images.

  • A mermaid in a blue tail rises through bright water, colored rays of light falling across a sunlit pool floor.

    Mertailor "Submerge" tail

    $850

    A Submerge Whimsy Fantasea skin designed with Mertailor for workshop guests only. The skin with a Fantasea Fin Three monofin is $1,250 plus shipping. Two extra retouched images.

  • Behind-the-Scenes: Raw Clips

    $250

    Unedited video clips of you at work on the reef, yours to cut and share.

  • Behind-the-Scenes: Edited Highlight Reel + Raw Clips

    $350

    Your sessions cut into a film of up to two minutes. Includes the raw clips.

  • Additional retouched images

    $75

    Per image, chosen from your preview gallery.

How to pay

Payment schedule

  1. Deposits to book$500 + $150$500 to Deep Blue for your travel. $150 to Submerge with the workshop.
  2. Travel balance to Deep Blue4 equal paymentsDecember 1, 2026 January 1, 2027 February 1, 2027 March 1, 2027 (settles your travel balance)
  3. Workshop balance to Submerge4 equal paymentsFebruary 15, 2027 March 15, 2027 April 15, 2027 May 15, 2027

Travel payments follow Deep Blue Adventures' invoice and terms. Deep Blue's invoice lists their payment options and any fees. If you book after December 1, your first invoice includes the payments already past. Payments to Submerge by card, bank transfer, Zelle or check carry no added fee. If the trip does not reach the numbers it needs, we will move it to 2028 and let you know by March 1, 2027. If it moves, you choose a full refund or a transfer to the 2028 trip. Recommended gratuities are separate from these payments.

A kayaker paddles beneath an orange sunset sky over the sea, backlit clouds above the horizon.

Getting there

Fly into Roatán (RTB)

International flights are not included in the trip rate. You book your own.

Plan to land by early afternoon on Saturday, June 12. The transfer to Turquoise Bay takes about 45 minutes and is included.

Nonstop from the US

  • Atlanta (ATL)DeltaSaturdays in summer
  • Dallas (DFW)AmericanWednesdays and Saturdays in summer
  • Miami (MIA)AmericanDaily
  • Houston (IAH)UnitedSeveral days a week
  • Denver (DEN)UnitedSaturdays in summer

Routes as of October 2026. Schedules change each season, so check before you book.

Good to know

  • No nonstop from the West Coast. Connect through Dallas, Houston or Atlanta, or fly to the hub the night before.
  • US citizens need a passport valid for six months, and no visa for stays under 90 days.
  • The departure tax is usually included in your airline ticket.

Not included

  • International flights
  • Private transfers (group airport transfers are included)
  • Gratuities for the resort staff and the dive crew
  • Extra nights and trip extensions
  • Scuba gear (tanks and weights are included)
  • Equipment rental
  • Nitrox (available for an additional fee)
  • Departure tax, if charged
  • Dive insurance (required)
  • Travel insurance (recommended)
  • Massages and spa treatments
  • Fuel and tax increases, if any

Travel insurance

Dive accident insurance is required for divers, and trip cancellation cover is strongly recommended for everyone. Depending on timing, your travel payments may not be refundable, so cancellation cover is worth a look. Neither is in the trip rate.

Deep Blue Adventures offers a selection of insurance products. Their travel insurance page explains the options and how to get a quote.

If you already know the cover you want, go straight to one of their vendors:

Trip terms and conditions · Deep Blue Adventures terms and conditionsDeep Blue Adventures: IATA# 36629655. CSOT# 2104067-40. FSOT# ST39041.

Interested?

Ask about this trip

Tell us a little about how you'd like to come, and Justin or Abbey will get back to you to talk through the details. The workshop has 8 exclusive model spots; divers, non-divers and partners are not limited.

Thanks, your enquiry is in.

We'll be in touch within a couple of days to talk about the trip.

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