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Honduras
is located south east of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Belize,
less than 3 hours by air from Florida. Honduras is bordered
on the west by Guatemala, to the south by Nicaragua, and on
the north coast by a great reef system of the Caribbean Sea.
The Bay Islands lie off this northern coast of Honduras in
Central America, amidst the spectacular coral reefs. The island
group consists of three main islands - Roatan, Utila and Guanaja
- and many smaller cayes and atolls.
Before Europeans arrived these isles were inhabited by the
Paya Indians as seen by the shards of pottery found at old
dwelling sites.
However, the Europeans did arrive. In 1502 Columbus landed
on Guanaja and since that time the Spanish, Dutch, French
and English have all had a turn controlling the islands. It
wasn't until 1859 that Great Britain signed a treaty ceding
the island group to Honduras. In times past, these lovely
isles have seen a great many Pirates of the Caribbean.
A man-made canal dug through the mangroves divides the island
of Guanaja into two sections - east and west. There are only
a handful of resorts in the whole of Guanaja and they mostly
lie on the eastern section of the island.
More interesting is the location of the main town - Bonacca
- sometimes referred to as the Venice of the Caribbean. It
is not on the island of Guanaja at all, but rather about a
mile offshore on a cluster of tiny cayes. Much of the town
is built over water with a maze of canals for boat access.
The entire island relies on boat transportation, no roads
or cars exist on Guanaja.
West Peak is located on the western section of the island.
Nearly three miles of pristine beach and wonderful seclusion
lie between West Peak and her neighbors. |
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