The Mitchell-Hedges Cave in Saint Helene

It’s not often you can say with certainty that you’re walking exactly where an explorer did over a hundred years ago. But this was one of those rare moments.

With a book in hand, we followed one of the oldest and most detailed documents ever written about the archaeology of the Bay Islands: Archaeological Explorations in the Bay Islands of Honduras, authored by American archaeologist William Duncan Strong and published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1935.

Strong wasn’t just any academic—he was one of the early pioneers of Central American archaeology. His work combined fieldwork with ethnography, and he had a talent for documenting places with precision, even in the most remote parts of the region. His expedition to the Bay Islands nearly a century ago helped lay the groundwork for understanding the Indigenous presence in the archipelago.

Among his notes and drawings are references to caves, mangroves, and coastal cliffs that had not been documented before. And tucked into history is the name of another figure, one with a much more dramatic public image: Frederick Mitchell-Hedges.

Mitchell-Hedges was a British adventurer, often compared to Indiana Jones, part explorer, part showman. He was known for wild tales and grand discoveries, including the (in)famous crystal skull. But beyond the spectacle, there are lesser-known accounts of his time in Honduras, particularly in Saint Helene, the most remote and least developed of Roatan’s surrounding islands. It was here, in the island’s southeast, that he described a cave hidden deep within the mangroves and wild coral terrain.

That’s where we went.

We were invited by Mr. Matthew Harper, a member of the Bay Islands Historical and Cultural Preservation Society. Mr. Harper lived in Saint Helene and has dedicated part of his life to studying and protecting its history, especially Saint Helene and its network of caves, some of which are still being explored and documented.

Saint Helene has at least 29 caves. Some are submerged, others tucked away in thick forest, and new ones are still being found.

We hiked through tangled vegetation, following a path framed by towering black mangrove. The water was dark and still, the air heavy, and the roots beneath our feet twisted like natural stairways. Every step felt like moving through a place that had somehow slipped through time.

And then we found it… the cave.

Untouched.

Exactly as Duncan Strong had described and drawn it. A jagged opening in the coral rock, wrapped in moss, branches, and silence. It’s hard to put into words what it feels like to stand in the same place that both Strong and Mitchell-Hedges once stood. To see with your own eyes what they saw. The drawings in Strong’s 1935 publication are uncannily accurate, proof that very little has changed here since.

Inside and around this cave is where valuable Indigenous artifacts were uncovered: ceramic vessels, stone tools, bone fragments. These are physical traces left by the Pech people. Sadly, many of these artifacts were removed and sent to institutions abroad, including the British Museum. I’ve shared some of those pieces with you before, photographed and cataloged, but far from the place they belong.

Getting here isn’t easy. It takes time, knowledge of the terrain, and a deep respect for the land. That’s why Amazing Roatan Tours and Mr. Matthew Harper are curating the path to offer a tour that goes beyond sightseeing, one that tells the story of a place that’s been largely overlooked, even though it holds some of the most remarkable archaeological and natural sites in the Bay Islands.