Mariposa Sobre El Mar: Cayos Cochinos

Cayos Cochinos

Today Heide and I ventured out to Cayos Cochinos, a set of 16 off shore islands surrounded by crystal blue water, white sand, and an assortment of tropical fish. The Cayos were declared a marine reserve in 1994, therefore, all marine and terrestrial flora and fauna within 460-square-kilometer area is protected from fishing, development, or any other harmful activity. Managed by the Honduras Coral Reef Fund, the Cayos are all privately owned, except for Chachahuate, which holds a small community of Garifuna families who survive by fishing and forms of tourism.

We woke up crazy early to meet our ride in La Ceiba, who drove us to Sambo Creek, where we were asked to sign some foreign document written in Spanish, basically saying that if something happened to the boat during the journey, and we somehow drowned the company would not be responsible. Huh? So… yea. We signed it. We met our tour guide, Alex, a native Honduran who attended school in Boston, Ma, but then came back to Honduras to be with his family. He spoke both English and Spanish, both with a Boston accent…lol. After we straped on our life vests, we took the bumpy 30 minute boat ride to the Cayos. As we approached the island, the crystal blue water started to appear. Our first site was Cayos Mayor where we went snorkeling for colorful fish. I spotted a school of blue fish that resembled Dori from the movie “Finding Nemo”. I found myself swimming away from the group, and heading toward the coral, where I found more fish of all different colors, and sizes, blue, green, yellow, narrow, flat, round… stripped, spotted, and solid. Then Alex called us over to where he was swimming, because he found some barracudas. Oh Boy! By the time I got to Alex, the barracudas fled, leaving us surrounded by these invisible jellyfish. I felt these mini-pinches and stings all over my body, especially my legs. If you know me well, I’m sure you know how I reacted. I PANICKED! Starting screaming and yelling in the water, “HELP! I’m being attacked!” Alex looked at me like I was crazy, oh well… no point in trying to hide it. I started swimming toward the boat in a panic, yelling for the other guys to get me out of the water. The stings didn’t last for more than a couple of minutes, but I was glad to be out of that death trap. After snorkeling we went on a short hike into the forest in search of the pink boas. We found a small one hiding in a canopy tree. Alex was going to go up and grab it, but the tree was too narrow to climb.

Look At the Blue Water

After the hike, it was time to eat at Chachahuate, an island about the size of a track field, where almost 30 Garifuna families live. They make money off the tourists, selling food and jewelry, and braiding hair. Heide and I chilled in the water, laid out on the beach, went searching for shells. Then we ate at one of the family houses with picnic tables stationed in front. Our meal was AMAZING! One of the best meals I’ve eaten in Honduras. We had lightly fried fish (served whole – head, tail, and everything), rice and red beans, plantains, and a huge Coca-Cola (500ml). All for $7! Gotta love it. After food, we did a bit more snorkeling in a jelly-fish free zone. Overall a great day at the Cayos… would definitely go again, but there is just so much more stuff to see in Honduras….