The department covers a total surface area of 261 km² and, in 1991, had an estimated population of 24,000. Islas de la Bahía comprises the islands of Roatán, Guanaja, Utila, Barbaretta, the Cochinos Cays, and several smaller islets.
Municipalities
Islas de la Bahía department is divided into four municipalities (municipios):
Guanaja
José Santos Guardiola
Roatán
Utila
History
The Bay Islands were first discovered by Columbus on his fourth voyage to America in 1502. They were later claimed, and successively held, by Great Britain, Spain, and the DutchUnited Provinces. Britain finally took control in 1643 and, with the exception of a one-month period of Spanish dominance in 1780, held onto them as a Crown colony, dependent on Jamaica. In 1860, in the aftermath of the William Walkerfilibustering affair, the British crown recognized Honduran sovereignty and ceded possession of them. The department of Islas de la Bahía was officially incorporated into the nation on 14 March1872.
Because of their incomparable natural beauty, the three idyllic BayIslands, just 30 miles off the northern coast of Honduras, are some of the most visited places in the entire country.
Small island towns are characterized by picturesque houses on stilts, bunched together at the edge of the sea, facing the waves that break on the coral reef.
The islands maintain the richest collection of coral pillars in the world, In the case of Roatan, both of the island's coasts have continuous opportunities for scuba diving.
Today the lush island of Guanaja, formerly Bonacco, is the second largest, 12 by 4 miles, of the three BayIslands, located off the Caribbean Coast of Honduras.
Unlike the other BayIslands, all transportation is by boat, owing to the fact that Guanaja has no roads or cars, adding to the island’s charm.
Three out of the seven BayIsland seafood processing and packing plants are located on the island, each processing up to a million plus pounds of seafood a year.
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