Cayos Cochinos

Last weekend was our friend Jenna's 31st birthday. To keep the tradition alive (since we did the same thing last year), we stayed at Helen's Hotel in Sambo Creek for the night and then got up early to head out to Cayos Cochinos, an archipelago in the Bay Islands which is a Marine Biological Reserve off the moutnainous northern coast of Honduras...literally a 45 minute boat ride from La Ceiba (lucky us) http://www.cayoscochinos.com/.

Yesterday, Ken and I got our beach gear ready and headed out to Helen's to spend the day with the rest of the crew. There were about 10 of us that got together to spend the afternoon, evening there enjoying the sunshine and of course some rum and cokes. It began as a cloudy day but luckily the clouds rolled away and the sunshine was able to peak through for most of it.

This could be a "wish you were here" postcard for sure

storm clouds are rolling in

amazing skill.

(insert crazy sound here)

This is legit.

He's flying!

Haha Luke had issues jumping...

The boys being silly.

Then this morning we left the mainland around 8 AM and got to Cayos by 9. We were able to snorkel a bit near one of the big islands which was fantastic. I got to see a few new fish that I had never seen before (one was green and yellow and it had a pattern like a maze...it also looked like it had green eyebrows and its tail was really skinny and long but the rest of the body was fat...I swear...)

(I actually found it online at this website: http://scuba.about.com/od/marinelife/ss/Reef-Fish-Identification-Guide-20-Common-Species-Of-Florida-And-The-Caribbean_14.htm

It's called a Scrawled Cowfish.....YESSSS! )

The whole group :)

Zonked from snorkeling

Carla

Jenna and Elio

Dan

What a beach babe

 After snorkeling for about 45 minutes we walked over to the main island where the pink boa is indigenous to the area. It is supposedly only found on Cayos Cochinos as well, no where else in the world. We were able to see two small ones up in trees which was super cool.

Searching for pink boas

He was a pretty good sized boa

There he goes slithering away

He's staring at you...

Crazy tree with spikes

Can you see it right above my head?

We were able to snorkel at another location before heading to the Garifuna village for lunch of fried fish, rice and beans, and plantains. Most people decided not to go back out snorkeling but me and a few others did. We were the smart ones because I got to see a HUGE stingray! It probably had a span of about 6 feet and it was dark blue/black with blue polka dots. Its tail was REALLY long too! It was probably the biggest one I've seen yet and the closest one. I'm glad it was swimming in the other direction honestly. Lunch was delicious, as always, and afterwards we headed back to La Ceiba before the water got too rough.

This could be a coca-cola commercial...

Me and Carla (she finally made it to Cayos!)

Picture perfect view (I was making a picture with my hands...)

It was bittersweet coming home today knowing that will probably be our last trip out to Cayos but we are fortunate enough to have gone 3 different times and each time we were able to see some really great stuff. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place and so close to all of these natural wonders! I don't think we could have chosen a better place to live these last 2 years.