Guanaja, Bay of Islands

With 54 square kilometers Guanaja is the second largest of Honduras’ Bay Islands. Exploring the Caribbean, Columbus was the first European to see and land on the island, which is some 40 kilometers off the mainland’s coast. Guanaja is quite hilly and one of the largest concentrations of residents is on a small island off its east coast known as Guanaja Cay. Some 4,000 people –about as many as on Guanaja itself- live on 1.4 square kilometers and houses and shops on Guanaja Cay cover the entire island. This little cay is next to a channel that cuts across the larger Guanaja from east to west, permitting boats to transport divers from one side of the island to the other without having to do a semi-circumnavigation of the island.