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The Bay Islands, Honduras |
 The Bay Islands is a collection of three large islands and over 60 islets and cayes starting some 30 miles off the coast of Honduras. A tropical paradise, the Honduras Bay Islands have long attracted an eclectic mix of settlers whose descendents make up the spicy cultural soup that flavors the Bay Island experience.
The Honduras Bay Islands are made up of Cayos Cochinos, Guanaja, Roatan and Utila. They were well populated by a robust indigenous culture when Columbus first set foot on Guanaja in 1502. European pirates like Henry Morgan, Coxen, Morris and Van Horn used the islands as a base for raiding Spanish ships beginning in the 1600s. They took refuge in the many hidden ports on Roatan, spending time hunting and fishing and lazing about in the tropical sun. After the Spanish eventually depopulated the islands, the Bay Islands were re-settled first by the Garifuna, who settled in Punta Gorda on Roatan, and later by British-descended settlers from the Cayman Islands, who set up colonies in Utila, Roatan and Guanaja.
Today, islanders speak predominantly English with a strong island accent, and part of the attraction of the Bay Islands is their authentic island culture that still manifests itself in its people, their language and the architecture of their towns.
In the 1960s the Bay Islands began to earn fame as a sport diving destination, since they possess the greatest variety of corals and sponges in the Caribbean. Today the islands are one of the Caribbean's most popular dive destinations. Dedicated dive resorts on the islands are abundant. Most are designed to blend in with the island environment, and none are built higher than the tallest palm tree. And although the Honduras Bay Islands are well known for first class diving, only recently have many other activities been made available on the islands, converting them into an ideal destination for anyone in search of a true Caribbean experience.
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