Cayos Cochinos (Hog Islands) – Monumento Natural Marino Archipielagos since 2003 – Honduras, February, 2012 Random Thoughts:
Well we actually came here twice… These 10 cays with 2 main lie about 25nm from mainland La Ceiba, Honduras. The weather here is somewhat between what you see in La Ceiba and Roatan as they are ½ way between. The first time from Utila in company with Nilaya with LIGHT west winds so we could motor sail. When we arrived we weren’t sure we would be able to stay there as the reef outside the anchorage is not as protective as thought from the guide book. Well that night we ROCKED vigorously and decided at first light to safely pull the motor and dinghy on deck and get the HELL out of there! It was abit difficult but we managed. We called Nilaya on VHF with no response and thought – How could they sleep in this pitching motion! We finally got a call about a hour later asking where we went. They even looked on the beach in case our anchor didn’t hold. We had a GREAT sail to Calabash Bight, Roatan to meet up with Lenny/Sue on S/V Windancer that just came up from Panama. We hadn’t seen them in a few years so was a nice reunion. Nilaya joined us in Calabash Bight.
I had to get back to the Cayos as we had paid for a month mooring fee of $40. The second time we sailed from French Cay Harbor with East winds predicted and had a nice sunny week exploring these cays, hiking to the lighthouse, snorkeling, diving via dinghy and with friendly Plantation Beach Resort @ $35/dive. Plantation does have a tank compressor but it broke so S/V Zeppelen (Wayne & Ellie) helped out with their on board compressor before they left. Romabout (Jim & Jane) came a couple days later so we had someone to dive and play with. Tom/I got really good at conserving air and using the same tank for 2 dives. Its amazing how much air there is in the tank after the normal stop of 500 psi!
There is one dive close to the anchorage that is BEAUTIFUL. It has so much color along with the purple tunicates seen only in the Cayos. Fish life is acceptable but not great as is the issue in the rest of the Bay Islands. On the Plantation dive I even saw a cluster of Flamingo Tongues, some mating and some just watching! All the photos really don’t do it justice.
We took the dinghy around the main Cochino Grande to see the Garifuna village East End. They also have a Garifuna settlement on the Lower Cay (Chachahuate). Two of the islands are very tall and so at anchor you will get strong gusts of wind (willy wahs) that come shooting down. Each morning they have a traditional skinny, inboard engine wood boat pick up all the children at various islands to bring them to East End. You can hear the children’s chatter way before you can see them. So cute!
We also dinghied around Cochino Pequeno to see what the marine research center was all about and look at the other dive mooring sites. We decided not to dive here as it looked pretty broken but understand that its better than it looks. There are some tour boats from both Roatan and mainland (Sambo Creek) to bring snorkelers and visit the villages but they are gone by 3pm. So this is the main advantage in taking your home (our sailboat) to destinations like this …. While traveling this small island, we saw a group of people on the beach and a man made thatch hut. After further review and approaching the beach we saw peoples arms waving at us from inside the hut and then people yelling at us while running down the beach . We soon realized that we better get out of there and that this is the site of both the Italian and Honduran Survivor show. How were we to know!? About 5 min. later a security park boat came out to tell us not to go back there.
There are several paths across Cochino Grand, one leading to East Village and another to the lighthouse. Romabout showed us the path or a local child would as well. It takes about 45 min. to hike there. Then you climb the interior ladder up 70 steps. I had to convince Tom the second time we hiked there that it was safe. He hates heights so was a good thing the steps were inside the lighthouse! What a view of the anchorage and surrounding islands. You can even see Roatan and Barareta Islands some 20-25 miles away. This island also has the endemic small pink boa constrictor which we were able to see. They are an endemic subspecies, meaning this exact type is found nowhere else on Earth.
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