CATOCHE, CAPE

Spanish Cabo Catoche, cape on the Caribbean Sea, on a bar off the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, in the northeastern part of the Yucatn Peninsula (q.v.). Cape Catoche is said to have been the first Mexican land visited by Spaniards, in 1517. It is separated from western Cuba, approximately 150 miles (240 km) to the east, by the Yucatn Channel.