The majority of the mangrove and pine forests, which were destroyed as a direct consequence of the passage of the hurricane sweeping across the island for two days, are slowly making a comeback.

The residents of Guanaja also have a different culture, so each important date in the year should be highlighted; for example, on September 15 (independence from Honduras), October 31 (Halloween), December 25 (Christmas) etc.

What they call Old Junk or Junkanoo (old garbage) is a group of people in masks wearing old rags even up to palm trees and running through the streets of El Cayo or The Key they consider it something very fun to be part of their culture and something that has been done for years.

This name appears as early as 1511 on the Peter Martyr map, but it later was modified by English pirates, privateers and settlers and was pronounced Bonacca.

It was first settled by the Haylocks who had moved to the two little cays that lay about a half kilometre off the south shore of the main island to get rid of the flies that plagued them during calm nights.

Unlike other settlers, Angelo Elwin was in possession of a deed signed by the authorities in Roatan which granted him the land between Michael's Rock and the lower end of the Bay.

[3][citation needed] On 2 October 2021, a fire at dawn grew out of control and swept through the island, engulfing some 200 structures.

[4] The island is part of the Islas de la Bahía y Cayos Cochinos Important Bird Area (IBA), designated as such by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of white-crowned pigeons, chimney swifts and yellow-naped amazons.

The weather is very warm to hot and humid throughout the year, with rainfall fluctuating from moderate to very heavy depending upon the strength of the northeast trade winds and of Caribbean hurricanes.

They are originally migrants from the English-speaking Caribbean who came to work on the construction of railroads as well as on banana plantations for the United Fruit Co. Caracol is a Spanish term that literally translates as conch, snail or shell and relates the people of the Bay Islands to their unique environment and their seafaring culture.

English is the first language of all native islanders regardless of race, and Spanish is spoken second, whereas mainland Honduras is primarily Spanish-speaking.

The language differs mostly in morphology but also in pronunciation and accent and, to a lesser extent, in syntax and vocabulary, from the English of the other British Caribbean colonies.

The language can also be learned, although it is not taught in the general sense, whilst the accent derived from the wide variety of expatriates living and working on the Islands from North America and Europe.

As of 2011[update], access to Guanaja is only by air flights from the Honduran mainland town of La Ceiba and a twice-weekly ferry from Trujillo.