We have one more day here in Cayos Cochinos, just outside of La Cieba Honduras. We recently found out the house next store is where the Honduran president comes for vacation. It actually looks quite nice compared to our modest cabins (no complaints though, we have running water, drinking water and solar energy for some lights at night.
Today was a good day. We broke up into two teams and got four Reed Checks done. Our afternoon dive was canceled due to weather, but we went from being behind eight dives to four. We are using our clean up day tomorrow to try and get them finished. Cross your fingers. The team here is finally gelling which is a relief. Lee and I got put back on fish counting since we broke into two teams and we are the experienced counters. We are also helping with substrate, which is identify what is at the ocean floor every 1.5 feet. This is one of the toughest jobs as you have to get right into the coral. We did very well.
A few days ago, we took an afternoon trip to see the local villages. The people who live on these islands are descendants of a slave rebellion. We toured various projects trying to get the villages less dependent on fishing and instead earning money on eco-tourism. They also showed us the school and the they have a boat they use as a school bus to pick up the kids from the various islands. You could see the African heritage in the culture. One island was a bit of sand with 40 families, very interesting to see, but I still have no idea how they get water or anything else. The kids did African dancing for us. It was great.
Well, one more day of diving, then Friday we boat back to La Cieba. We have the afternoon and over night, and then an early flight to Costa Rica Saturday morning (very early). I am looking forward to a nice steak in La Cieba. We changed our plans and are staying in San Jose Saturday night, the we are headed to Aleuja (sp) to meet up with the Turtle Conservation folks. We have meet and greet and training, then Tuesday morning we head for Gondoca where the Turtle project is located.
A little bit of history for you. La Cieba is the headquarters for the Banana Companies in Honduras and Honduras was the original “Banana Republic”. It looks like a cross between Mexica and a Caribbean island (with very little wealth). The Cayos Cochinas Reserve is the only marine reserve actually patrolled in Latin America (2nd largest reef in the world) to ensure fishing is done in season and with appropriate methods. The park rangers (think military with big guns) are run by a few times a day. They caught a trolling boat about a month ago, a huge win for here. Of the 14 islands, 3 are preserved, including the second largest island where we are staying, along with part of the largest island. The reef monitoring we are doing is measuring both the recovery from Hurricane Mitch (which destroyed most of the coral) and the success of the preserve. You can still see a lot of the Hurricane damage, although the recovery seems great for only 4 years of growth.
We found the trick for the sand flies and mosquitoes. The answer is baby oil. Lee is slowly recovering from the bites. Although I am unhappy, since they go after me now., at least until our room mate comes to bed.
You should hear from us next in Costa Rica. We send our love.
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