Utila and Cochinos

One of the reasons we went to Utila was to see the Whalesharks that are suppose to migrate there usually from mid March to mid April. But apparently this year, with the weather being cold the migration is late. So we didn’t see any Whalesharks. We also heard from local fisherman there have not be many for a number of years. Since we left there apparently been 1 sighting.
We did dive with 3 different dive shops! Paradise Dive, with the most reasonable prices, however this was the dive shop that we said we would not use, as their dive boat had black smoke coming out the exhaust but we did, and this was the dive group that got the line caught on it prop when we went diving with them. Capt Morgan’s dive shop, we dove with because they state that they go to the Cayes to the west. And Utila Dive Center, as they promised that they would go to the north end, supposedly the best diving and too far for our dinghy. We did one dive with our dinghy and another with our yachtie friends on Cool Breeze. Two weeks and only 8 dives! Again the fish life seems to be limited, the topography varied. We need to learn about corals and sponges!
Then back in the saddle again, we rented bikes for a day to ride around the 8 mile long island of which half of it you can only get there by water. We biked over the hill, passed the airport to the north shore, then the roads and trails stopped okay the jungle took over the path and we did not have a machete with us. The north shore was very rugged. Then we road back along the path on the east side, past new housing being built and to you guess it we ran out road and hit water. There really are only 2 roads in Utila one going north/west and one going east. We ended up stopping for lunch, over looking the water of course and finished our tour de Utila in 5 hours.

Then the big sail (okay 18 miles) to “HOG Islands” called Cayos Cochinos, a series of little Cayes, now part of a marine park. No anchoring, moorings are free, although there is a fee to be in the marine park. We stayed in Cochinos for just over a week, and we snorkeled and dove with some passing cruisers. There is a little Caye called “Little Monitor” which has a local fishing village on it, probably a mile and a half from where we anchored, part of the passage was open to the sea, so we went over with 2 other boats who had larger dingy engines then us, we left 30 minutes before them and they still beat us to the Caye. We enjoyed a fish fry lunch with “Angelina” and “Sothern Mist” then once again we left before them and they passed us with a wave and smile. The good news is we would have used a lot less gas then them. But they certain get back and forth a lot faster.

We meet another 2 boats “Antic” and “For Today” and did a dive around the corner from our anchorage at “Lion’s Den”. We also went on a hike up to the derelict lighthouse with Judy (who lives on Cochinos part time) and Antic and For Today. We past one pink Boa on the path, Karen moved that out of the way BEFORE Cheryl saw it and Cheryl was very happy about that. After our 45 minute hike, of course at the heat of day, and straight up a huge hill okay it was meandering trail up to about 300 ft high to lighthouse. Up we went we climbed to the top of lighthouse were it swayed in the breeze. The view from the top of the lighthouse was phenomenal! The next day we had lunch at Plantation Beach Resort with Antic and For Today, Judy and her husband Greg joined us for good food and great company!As always with the cruiser life everyone moved on and we were on our own in the anchorage. Greg and Judy invited us ashore for lunch and Greg cooked two types of fish that he had caught the night before! Wow, was the fish ever good. They have a special orange tree on their property which is both sour and sweet and you can eat the whole thing or makes it into a great juice and a little Vodka. Yummy and good for you too!!