Page 37 - Central America

Roatan Honduras Dive Map

The second-largest country in Central America – and also one of the Over half of the population lives by the land; coffee, bananas and
poorest – Honduras is both ugly and beautiful. Behind the reefs and shrimp are the main export crops and Honduras is the world’s fourth
rainforests, it has the unfortunate claim to being the murder capital of largest exporter of bananas. Cotton, once important is now far less so.
the world and the high crime risk means visitors should be cautious at Tobacco, corn, beans, rice and sugar are grown mostly for domestic
all times. The Bay Islands are the country’s biggest drawing card. The use but some small quantities are sometimes exported. Timber is a
archipelago offers some of the best diving in Central America, not to major export, controversy over the development of forestry reserves
mention the chance to swim with dolphins and come face to face with has laid the future expansion of the industry open to doubt. Copan
whale sharks. In the midst of all this nature, Honduras’ cities are eas- Ruinas is one of the most important Mayan cities and also a World
ily forgotten and although soaring crime rates of San Pedro Sula keep Heritage Site. The ruin were discovered in 1570 by Diego García de
visitors away, it would be a shame to miss out on the colonial architec- Palacio. The remains of the citadel and imposing public squares are
ture of the capital city Tegucigalpa, the Semana Santa celebrations in examples of the three main stages of development of this city, before
Comayagua or the lively carnival in La Ceiba. it was abandoned. Rain is most frequent in the Caribbean during the
Honduras has 70 natural reserves. Some of the most popular parks months of September through to January. The driest months in the
are La Tigra, outside Tegucigalpa, the Biosphere of the Rio Platano Bay Islands are April and May and are very hot with temperatures
River (World Heritage Site), Punta Sal and Pico Bonito outside La exceeding 90 F/32 C. The population of Honduras in 2012 was ap-
Ceiba. These parks have visitor’s centers, hiking trails and camping. proximately 8,046,000 and the country’s area is 112,492Km2. Forested
At the start of the 20th century, following the founding of a company land amounts to 53.6% of the total area, which means that there is a
in 1899 by the Vaccaro brothers of New Orleans, Honduras earned it’s significant amount of natural resources remaining.
nickname as the Banana Republic. This company later became The This archipelago consists of several small islands located 20 miles off
Standard Fruit Company and made bananas the major export crop of the north coast of the country in the Caribbean Sea. They offer op-
Honduras. The United Fruit Company of Boston who controlled the portunities to dive that are competitive with some of the best sites in
largest fruit interest in Honduras was also founded in 1899. Hondu- the world. Three great islands to consider for diving in Honduras are
ras is historically known as the banana republic. The Mainland land- Roatan, Utila, and Guanaja. Each Honduras Island offers a very differ-
scape is lush and mountainous, with rolling hills and valleys littered ent experience and each has its own unique characteristics.
with bananas, pineapple, and African palm oil farms throughout the
country. Honduras boasts two coasts. The northern coast borders the
Caribbean Sea, while the southwest department of Choluteca touches
the Gulf of Fonseca which opens into the Pacific Ocean.