Hog Island


Cayos Cochinos in Honduras (the Hog Islands) is an archipelago 19 km north of Honduras's Caribbean coast, near La Ceiba. Part of the Honduras Bay Islands (which as includes Roatan, Utila and Guanaja), Cayos Cochinos includes two larger islands (Cochino Pequeno and Cochino Grande) along with eleven tiny islands. The preserved seascape of Cayos Cochinos totals 460 square kilometers. The Cayos Cochinos island Chachauate Key is home to a Garifuna settlement, as well as some of the most stunning scenery I've ever beheld.
The islands are a Marine Protected Area and are managed by the Honduras Coral Reef Foundetion. The coral reef here is part of the world's second largest coral reef system known as the Meso- American Barrier Reef. There is a scientific research station on Cayo Menor, the smaller of the two main islands in the system.
National Geographic writes, "The waters around this collection of coral cays are a marine biologist's dream: protected by the government, off-limits to commercial divers and fishermen, and busy with creatures that may not yet have names. "The Cayos Cochinos reefs are the least disturbed ecosystem in the Bay Islands.