Cayos Cochinos Tour

Day 14: Cayos Cochinos Tour

It's 5:30 in the morning when we wake up accompanied by the soft sound of the waves, something that makes us deduce that the day is going to be calm, allowing us to do the Cayos Cochinos Tour, something we had planned to do since we started preparing the trip to Guatemala and Honduras and that we cannot deny has been one of the reasons for finishing the trip in this area of ​​Honduras.

We take the opportunity to take a shower and at 6:30 we are already sitting in front of a cafe in the hotel bar area where, thanks to the connection they have, we can take an hour to work and leave some things ready before we start to paradise.

But before it comes to taste the breakfast that includes pancaques and fruit plus the second coffee of the day, which give us energy to start today, in which we know, we will find paradise. Seeing that we still have a little while, we ask for another couple of coffees that we take in the area of ​​the jetty, enjoying the gentle breeze that is leaving us in the morning, reminding us that we can not forget the luck we are having on this trip.

Yesterday we spoke with Clemente the manager of Turtle Bay, where we stayed at Dirty calluses and that we will talk about in the next post in more detail, commenting that today we wanted to do the Cayos Cochinos tour, being possible for us two alone, to be able to go quietly on the tour and take all the photographs we need. We cannot forget that it is one of the most important areas of Honduras, although at the same time it is also one of the most ForgottenAlthough we also have to say that we hope to continue like this, since this last Eden of the Caribbean, as it is known, it maintains that essence of paradise thanks to the few visits it receives.
Clemente already told us yesterday that there was no problem to do the Cayos Cochinos tour privately, for $ 20 per person, in which we will be enjoying this incredible area of ​​Honduras for 6-7 hours.
We have met that we will go out with our captain Dennis at 10 am, touring the area in a shark boat like the one that brought us to Cayos Cochinos from La Ceiba, and then eat at Chachauate Cay, the only inhabited key, in which the Garífunas live.

We leave punctually at 10 in the morning and we don't need more than two minutes to realize the paradise we are in.

We started around Cayo Mayor, where we are staying these days and from where we had already had the perception of the transparency of the water, but we have just believed ourselves when we are on the boat, moving at low speed and it seems that we are more than sailing, flying.

Cayos Cochinos Tour

This is the most famous tour in the area and we consider it essential if you have come here.
Dirty calluses It is made up of 13 small cays, of coral origin and two larger islands, called Cayo Mayor and Cayo Menor.

This entire area belongs to a protected marine area, which are part of the second largest coral reef in the world. In Cayo Menor we can find a scientific research station, which manages the entire area.
Some of the keys are privately owned, so you cannot access them without a permit and others are protected spaces, so you cannot know them in any way other than on board a boat.

The displacement between the different keys is only possible by boat / boat and can be contracted directly with the hotel, if you stay in Turtle Bay or directly with a place if you stay in Cayo Chachauate, sharing a cabin with a place.
Cayos Cochinos is also known as the last Eden of the Caribbean, something we can say that is not exaggerated at all, it is more, this nickname is totally justified. You do not believe it? We invite you to continue reading and above all, keep looking at the images.

The day could not be more perfect, sporting a radiant sun, without any cloud and with a sea so calm that it seems at times that we are on an oil raft.
After completely surrounding Cayo Mayor, seeing the different areas of the island, including the neighboring beach where we were yesterday, we continue sailing, now with more speed, to approach two of the nearest keys, Cayo Largo Arriba and Cayo Largo Down.

In Cayo Largo Arriba there is only one person, cousin of our captain, who allows us to disembark in the key, to have our first experience "on land" in this incredible paradise.
The first thing we do, after the relevant presentations, is to leave the backpacks, take off our sandals and start touring this beautiful piece of land, where we are not going to deceive you, we would stay a little while.

After this walk, in which we completely surrounded the key, we sat for a while with the captain and his cousin, to enjoy a pleasant conversation, in which he explains how his life is here and takes the opportunity to show us a property that they sell At this time for $ 275,000 that the truth does not seem that anything expensive, considering that you can build your own jetty, which assures us that the price can be haggled and most importantly, is in paradise.

After almost an hour here, we return to our boat and we make our way to Cayo Chachauate, where we will eat, passing by Cayo Largo Abajo, a private key and Cayo Redondo, another small piece of land that seems to be taken from Eden itself.

It didn't take us more than 5 minutes to get close to Chachauate Cay, that place that we have read so much, always taking into account the little information we have been able to find in this area, considered another of the great reasons to carry out this Cayos Cochinos Tour, which will allow us to know a little more about the Garífunas, inhabitants of this area of ​​Honduras, which we already met a few days ago, when we were in Livingston, in Guatemala.

Cayo Chachauate, is a piece of land 100 meters long and a little over forty wide, this being the only inhabited key of Cayos Cochinos, where approximately 80 people live, in wicker and palm cabins, called cane cane.

In Cayo Chachauate there is no electricity, if not a community solar panel, which illuminates the entire island. Nor do they have drinking water, so in the middle of the island they have a community drum, which is filled with rainwater, connected to a hose with which the island is supplied.

Staying in Cayo Chachauate

Staying in Cayo Chachauate can be one of the best experiences during your stay in Cayos Cochinos. You can do it directly in one of the houses, living together and sharing a cabin with a family.
We had read that there was an Eco-hostel there, but we have to say that once there we saw no sign that it existed and we were told that the accommodation management is done directly with the community, once you get there.
Staying in a cabin, with a sandy floor and palm roof, is one of the best options in this impressive corner of the world. We are quite clear that it becomes our outstanding option when we return.

While on land, we talked to our host, to specify the time of the meal for an hour or so later and we set off to tour one of the most idyllic places we have ever been.

Despite the dimensions of Cayo Chachauate, which are minimal, if you want to enjoy the place, at least you need a couple of hours to be able to explore it quietly, enjoy the small details, take a bath and of course take pictures, many. And it is impossible not to be with your finger on the camera's shutter all the time, since with each step you take, an image appears in front of you, which you hope to retain forever thanks to the camera.

After going through Cayo Chachauate tail and taking a bath in such transparent waters that it seems impossible, we return to the house of our host, who receives us inviting us to sit at a table on the beach, in front of his house, where he also We meet Maite, a woman who 14 years ago comes to Cayo Chachauate for several months a year to rest, relax and enjoy this incredible paradise.
How could it be otherwise we decided to share a table with her, taking the opportunity to talk about the life in Cayos Cochinos, also talking about how the TV show Survivors It has affected, for better and for worse, this area of ​​Honduras.

After eating, we enjoy a perfect desktop, in front of some images that we will surely not forget, in which the Garífunas become protagonists with their daily life, which we find most interesting, something that they think of more surprising, finding at the same time our explanations much more interesting and being very surprised when we explain that in Spain we do not have these landscapes and these keys.

It's after 4 in the afternoon when we see that the time has come to get back on track, so we pay $ 25 for the two fish dishes with rice and bananas, plus drinks, we have to say that we have found it quite expensive, although we can not ignore the area where it is and what is the way in which they have to provide themselves, since they have to go to La Ceiba once a week by boat to be able to manage items that logically are not essential , such as soft drinks, beers ... etc for the tourists that arrived here, although we also have to say that we believe that if we had not come from Turtle Bay, since they have taken care of managing everything, the price would have been more adjusted.

We say goodbye to Maite, with a until next time and we continue the Cayos Cochinos Tour, now sailing to the farthest keys among those found Cayo Bolaños, Cayo Paloma or Cayo Timón, famous for being the Survivors program scenarios.

The first part of the trip is done quickly, passing first through Cayo Paloma, where as soon as we begin to approach our captain slows down, allowing us to recreate this sight in which it seems that we are in the very paradise.

As we get closer, we can see more details of this beautiful key, known as we said before for being the scene of the latest programs of Survivors, in which the palm trees and the calm waters of today, make it a perfect scenario.

Contrary to what it may seem, the keys are not so close to each other, having to navigate a few minutes until we begin to approach Cayo Bolaños, Cayo Arena and Cayo Zacate, the furthest from Cayo Mayor, where we stayed.

As we get closer we slow down again, thus being able to take a much closer perspective of the different keys and above all enjoy this environment, which we have to say, is far exceeding all our expectations and it is that we would never have imagined that these little 13 pieces of land, they could be so amazing.

Although the perfect situation would have been to be able to go down in each of them, to be able to enjoy them in another way that would not have been only from the perspective of the boat, it must be said that these keys are protected, so this is impossible, although We imagine that if the corresponding permits are requested, they could be obtained.

After the tour of this area, we approach the area of ​​Cayo Timón, closer to Cayo Menor and also another scenario of the Survivors program, where we arrive after 5 minutes sailing at high speed, which allow us to accelerate the tour a bit, something that the captain recommends, since in the afternoon, water currents are formed in this area, which usually do the navigation "quite move".

After the approach to this last key, in which we see in the distance a person who is responsible for take care of it, we turn around, now to retrace our steps and return to Cayo Mayor, where our accommodation is located.
It is impossible, as we move away from this stunning paradise, to look back and keep one last perspective of this little piece of heaven that we have had the good fortune to know.

After these hours enjoying the Cayos Cochinos tour, our captain again accelerates the march on the way to Cayo Mayor, although before he tells us that we will approach to Cayo Menor, so that we can see one of the most famous beaches in the area, Playa Uva, scenario of the famous reality, which we have to say, is much smaller than we imagined.

There are a few minutes to 6:00 pm when we arrive at Turtle Bay in Cayo Mayor, momneto that we take to go directly to the room to hit a shower and how could it be otherwise to go down to the beach area to enjoy, relax and above all watch life go by In this amazing paradise.

As we already lived yesterday, the moment in which the sun goes down is one of the most anticipated moments of the day here in Cayos Cochinos and if the day is clear, the show is more than assured.

It is 6:30 when we enter the dining room, where we share a table with a couple we have met these days and with whom we enjoy a pleasant evening and dinner, which we finished already past 9 pm, retiring to our room to rest, although before it is a must to stop in the terrace area to enjoy for a few moments the sound of the waves under an incredibly starry sky as few we have seen.
We say goodbye to the day with the firm conviction that we are in paradise.