Utila Bay Islands and Jeaneatte Kawas National Park, Honduras
We had spent the evening listening to the sounds of the guitar and waves breaking on the beach at South West Caye. But today we were on our way to the larger island of Utila, the smallest of the three that make up this group of islands to the north of the Honduran coast. It’s a relatively flat island with an area of about 13 sq. miles and about 2,000 folks live here, most likely the descendants of pirates such as Morgan and Jackson. This little island has become quite popular because of the cheap prices that it offers to the scuba diving community. The magnificent and large Whale sharks also like to visit this island and have drawn many a snorkeler and diver to this area. We thoroughly explored the quaint town and incredible reefs and dropoffs. Roger Luckenbach, one of the naturalists, then told us about the Maya and the site of Qurigua, Guatemala to prepare us for tomorrows visit to this ruin.
As we approached Punta Sal, we were amazed at the beauty of this place. The coast line is very rugged and the jagged hills were smothered in dense green tropical forest. We could only imagine at the moment what might be living here. Our captain pulled the Sea Voyager into a nicely protected cove and we set ashore. As soon as we neared the forest of tropical almond trees on the sloping beach, we were assailed with the roaring of the Mantled Howler monkey! They were all around us! We watched them for quite a long time and they seemed to be as curious of us as we were of them!
We had spent the evening listening to the sounds of the guitar and waves breaking on the beach at South West Caye. But today we were on our way to the larger island of Utila, the smallest of the three that make up this group of islands to the north of the Honduran coast. It’s a relatively flat island with an area of about 13 sq. miles and about 2,000 folks live here, most likely the descendants of pirates such as Morgan and Jackson. This little island has become quite popular because of the cheap prices that it offers to the scuba diving community. The magnificent and large Whale sharks also like to visit this island and have drawn many a snorkeler and diver to this area. We thoroughly explored the quaint town and incredible reefs and dropoffs. Roger Luckenbach, one of the naturalists, then told us about the Maya and the site of Qurigua, Guatemala to prepare us for tomorrows visit to this ruin.
As we approached Punta Sal, we were amazed at the beauty of this place. The coast line is very rugged and the jagged hills were smothered in dense green tropical forest. We could only imagine at the moment what might be living here. Our captain pulled the Sea Voyager into a nicely protected cove and we set ashore. As soon as we neared the forest of tropical almond trees on the sloping beach, we were assailed with the roaring of the Mantled Howler monkey! They were all around us! We watched them for quite a long time and they seemed to be as curious of us as we were of them!
