A sea of plastic: Shocking images show how bottles, bags and rubbish are choking our oceans

These pictures are unlikely to make it into the glossy tourist brochures that sell the Caribbean as a paradise destination.

For they show the much grimmer reality of clear blue seas increasingly choked by a tide of discarded plastic.

 Filthy: A diver grimaces as he prepares to jump into the sea covered with plastic rubbish near Roatan, an island off the coast of Honduras

 Waste: Disposable cutlery and other rubbish trapped in seaweed. It is thought it was washed into the sea from nearby Guatemala, carried on rivers swollen by the recent rainy season

Meanwhile, a close-up image of the ocean reveals dozens of disposable knives and forks floating among seaweed. 

It is thought the rubbish was washed into the sea from nearby Guatemala, carried on rivers swollen by the recent rainy season flowing through towns and villages.

The sight disgusted photographer Caroline Power, who shared the images online to raise awareness of the problem. She wrote: ‘This has to stop – think about [the plastic you use in] your daily lives.’

John Hourston, of the Blue Planet Society, which campaigns to protect the oceans, said it was the worst example of plastic pollution he has seen.

Dark waters: Another picture, taken from below the waterline, shows plastic bottles, bags and other rubbish on the surface blocking out sunlight

He pointed out that plastic gets broken down into microscopic particles that enter the food chain when plankton and fish eat them.

He added: ‘It is thought that 90 per cent of sea birds have ingested some sort of plastic, and there are many examples of turtles and whales mistaking plastic for food. 

'We all have a part to play in reducing plastic waste but manufacturers and government need to take the lead. It’s a global problem which needs a global solution.’