Plantation Beach Resort, Cayos Cochinos

[hebrideskid]

Been lately? Comments: Diving (shore, boat); food; accomodations; staff; sand fleas?

 

[divad]

Been lately? Comments: Diving (shore, boat); food; accomodations; staff; sand fleas?

I have only seen a video of it. There a shot from a dock of a diver hovering over a huge, gaudy jumble of coral. The accomidations are cedar bungalows with fans, no
A.C. (this may have changed). The food looks great. The owner, whom I've met here a couple of times, seems like a nice-guy-who-didn't-finish-last, so I would think this would inform his choice of staff. I'm told the no-see-ums are pretty bad (not in the video). It looks kind of like a miniature St. Johns with a lot more coral.

 

[mtyspider]

U can't go wrong with plantation is the best well hidden secret in all central america.

Th food is marvelous,the owner it's a canadian very friendly.

Diving SUPERB shore dive are the shortest i have ever had once 10 meters from the beach u can see almost about everything.

The best place to relax and enjoy yourself.

If i could afford it trust me i did be right there right now.

It's a diver's paradise so don't expect whitesand beach but other than that everything else it just eden with great all inclusive food.

 

[freefall2]

We took advantage of the flat calm seas and zipped over there on Saturday in a friend's speedboat. We did a dive on one of the sea mounts and then went in to Plantation Beach Resort hoping to get some lunch. Unfortunately we needed to call ahead so thank goodness we had some cheese and crackers on board. The lunch they had prepared for the guests staying there smelled terrific and they offered to share whatever was leftover but we decided to get in another dive and then head home. We jumped in on the north side of the big island in about 40' of water with a white sand bottom and huge coral heads. The formations were beautiful, with lots of swim-throughs and tons of fish. This place is magical. I can't wait for a chance to take the owners over in the big boat. We'll definately be calling ahead so they can have a meal with the nice folks at Plantation.

 

[aquaman87]

I was just there 2 weeks ago and it was awesome. This was my seventh visit in the last 12 years and every visit has been memorable. We had great weather everyday and the visibility was exceptionally well even at some of the sites that can be hit or miss. We spent 2 days out on the banks (sea mounts) viz was 100'+ we had school jacks, spadefish, creole fish, and triggers. The toughest part about diving in Cayos Cochinos is deciding whether to shoot macro or wide angle. On every trip we have found something that we could not identify in any of the books and this trip was no different, we found a shrimp that I had to do some internet searching before I found what it was. mtyspider was right this is the best kept secret in Central America or the Caribbean.

One of the best opportunities while there is the house reef and surrounding structures. Between boat dives or as a night dive, just go off the dock and explore the dock, sea wall, grass flats and house reefs. Some of the coolest creatures (octopus, squid, seahorse, toadfish, batfish) live right off the resort.

With regards to the resort, the place is beautiful, many of room have been renovated and although they still do not have A/C, the ceiling fans and sea breezes are more than enough. The rooms are very comfortable and most are far enough from the main resort area to provide quiet and privacy, if that is what you are looking for.

The food is great and there is plenty of it. Donna, the cook, knows her way around the kitchen and every meal reflects her home cooking style. Roger, the manager, and his staff are very friendly and go out of their way to make sure you enjoy your stay and have some great dives.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Doc]

I was just there 2 weeks ago and it was awesome. This was my seventh visit in the last 12 years and every visit has been memorable.

How do you get there? (as there is no airport)

{and please, with your dive experience, please flesh-out your ScubaBoard Profile!}

 

[aquaman87]

How do you get there? (as there is no airport)
QUOTE]

Gettting there is part of the fun. First you must fly into one of the two gateway cities San Pedro Sula or Tegucigalpa. Once you clear customs and immigration you will catch a local airlines (Sosa or Islenia) and fly to La Ceiba, a town on the coast. This take pretty much the whole day and with delays if you are walking out of the airport in La Ceiba by 4pm that day you are doing pretty good. As you stated there is no airport so the transfer from the mainland to the island has to happen by boat. Typically, in the late afternoon the winds kick up and it's too rough to make a crossing to the island. In this case the resort puts its guest up in a local hotel, the Hotel Gran Paris, and takes everyone out to dinner. Out of the seven times I have gone we did late afternoon crossings twice and they are no fun. In my opinion its better to wait until the next morning.

The next morning eveyone is shuttled down to the dock at 6:30am, the seas in the morning are down, so you have a smooth, comfortable 1.5 hr ride to the resort. Once at the resort it is optional if you want to take a 1-tank morning dive as soon as you unpack. I usually have to put my cameras together so I work on that and go off the dock to test my gear.

The return trip is a little smoother, based on everyone's transfers out of La Ceiba the boat usually leaves the dock around 7:30am for La Ceiba. It could be earlier, again it depends at what time your flights leave LC. Then LC to your gateway city and home.

I know it sounds like a lot but its not that bad and once you get in the water at Cayos, its worth it.

 

[Cudabait]

How do you get there? (as there is no airport)

{and please, with your dive experience, please flesh-out your ScubaBoard Profile!}

Doc,

I was there in February. We did not stay at the Plantation Resort. We were on a motor sailer. (motored from Utila) The resort ( and the islands) are reached by boat only, usually motoring from La Ceiba. There is only the one resort and a small scattering of privately owned houses. The two main islands, big hog and little hog are hilly and have lots of trees and vegetation (and sand flies) There were no guests at the resort....we rented tanks for our diving and opened an honor system tab in the bar. ISOLATION best describes the area and the resort. There is a permanent marine study station set up on little hog and the area surrounding that island has been designated a "zero impact area" by the Honduran government. There are two local (very primitave) villages....East Village, located on the east side of Big Hog and Cacahuate, a very, very primitave group living on a sandbar called cacahuate. (peanut) There is also a permanent marine enforcement station at East Village. One thing I did notice while walking around the resort and Big Hog was that many of the cabins at Plantation Resort are situated a significant uphill climb from the restaurant and bar area. They are acessed by improved pathways. However, they are quiet and private. Others are located near the bar and restaurant.

Our diving experience was not as broad as I would have liked. We were limited to diving from the small outboad we towed and hampered by high winds. The diving we did do was comparable to the other bay islands. However, due to the general lack of overall diving pressure at the Cayos, had we been able to broaden our diving I,m certain we would have found it to be superior.

The Cochinos are certainly a place for those wanting the isolated and remote. Logistics are a consideration also. Usually one reaches La Ceiba by air (or other means) and then by prior arrangement, motors by boat to the Cochinos...usually in the morning before the wind comes up. This frequently means that those arrivng La Ceiba by air in the afternoon must spend the night in La Ceiba because the afternoon conditions have become too rough to make the boat run. Not always, but it happens unpredictably. So...those who have more time to spare will find themselves more comfortable with the Cayos. On the other hand, those who are on a tight time budget may find that the logistics involved are an important consideration in their travel plans.

Oh, and Doc...did I say that you get there by boat??

Regards,

 

[freefall2]

We finally made it over in the big boat. The owners flew in on Thursday and we spent that night in Port Royal. The wind was howling all night long. Tim and I slept (tried to) in the pilot house so we could be sure we weren't dragging anchor. In the morning it was calm and beautiful so the owner wanted to cross over to Cayos Cochinos. We stopped at Parrot Tree to pick up a couple of our friends and headed across. It took us just over 2 hours. We tied up on the Aggressor mooring and called over to Plantation to make a reservation for 9 people. We offered to supplement their menu of filet with a few lbs of jumbo shrimp and also took over tuna steaks for our 2 non meat eaters.
The people from the marine park showed up and we paid $200 for an annual permit, $10 for each person on board, made a donation to the park and gave a box of Kripy Kreme donuts to the guys.
We put everybody in the water to snorkel but the vis was really poor in the spot we visited last time. We went around the island in our panga and stopped in a few other spots to snorkel. The cooks at Plantation put together a nice dinner for us and their two guests from North Carolina. We had a great evening. On the way back to Roatan we saw a performance by a pod of dolphins. I wish we could have stayed longer but we had to send the owners back to the real world to work and make more money to continue to pay for our awesome lifestyle.
Hopefully next time we go over we'll be able to do some diving.