A Caribbean archipelago of cays, reefs, and coastal wetlands shared between Nicaragua and Honduras.
Miskito Cays
The Miskito Cays are an archipelago of small cays and reefs lying off the Mosquito Coast in the western Caribbean Sea, within the shared maritime zone of Honduras and Nicaragua. Spanning roughly 27 square kilometers, the system combines estuaries, coral reefs, seagrass beds, sand cays, and small vegetated islets fringed by white sand beaches, making it one of the most ecologically distinctive coastal complexes in Central America.
Administratively, the cays fall within Nicaragua's North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region and Honduras's Gracias a Dios Department, giving the archipelago a binational character unusual among Central American protected landscapes. The area was declared a Nicaraguan protected area in 1991 as the Miskito Cays Biological Reserve, and in 2001 the cays together with a stretch of adjacent mainland coastline were formally recognized under the Ramsar Convention as the Cayos Miskitos y Franja Costera Inmediata wetland site.
Beyond its official protections, the Miskito Cays are recognized by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area, reflecting their importance for coastal and seabird populations. The combination of marine, coastal, and island habitats, along with the cultural and ecological connections to the Moskitia region, gives the archipelago a significance that extends well beyond its modest geographic footprint.
