Fun and Sun in the Corn Islands
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
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Trip End
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Little Corn Island,
Nicaragua
Saturday, April 14, 2007
The Corn Islands are two small islands located off the east coast of Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea - 83 kilometers from the mainland. Big Corn Island is the larger island (hence the name, duh!) at 10 square kilometers. It has an airport, paved roads, and several large hotels. Little Corn Island is a mere 3 square kilometers, has no roads or motorized vehicles, no airport and can only be reached by ferry.
This was one of those trips where we planned to stay for "just 4 or 5 days" but ended up staying a full 12 nights! It was that beautiful!
We left Laguna de Apoyo in the late morning by taxi to the Managua Airport. Round-trip tickets on La Costena Airlines for $165 per person from Managua to Big Corn Island. While waiting to board the tiny propeller aircraft, we spotted a familiar face in front of us. Rachel - a really friendly girl we met earlier in Granada.
About 2 hours later, we arrived in Big Corn Island and transferred immediately to a ferry. The ferry (actually a small motorized launcha) took us the 30 minute ride across to Little Corn Island (about $5 per person).
Upon arrival, as usual, we had no hotel reservations. We soon met an American who was working on the island who recommended a few places on the east side of the island. The west side of the island has beautiful sunsets, but gets really hot because there is no wind. The east side is quite windy, which helps keep you cool in this tropical climate.
We soon found a bungalow at Carlito's Sunrise Paradise.
A beautiful place to read a book
Carlito's has about 10 private rustic bungalows right on the beach. For $10/night we got a private bungalow with small porch and a shared bathroom. Electricity on the island is by generator only, so electricity was limited to after 6pm each night. Water, as well, is a bit of a scarcity. Water is by well, and without electricity for pressure, the pressure is almost non-existent during the day. Most of the time, we ended up taking bucket showers and using a pail of seawater to flush the toilet. A small compromise for living in paradise!The beach in front of Carlitos' is beautiful - perfect white sand, shallow and warm water, brilliant blue water. A coral reef encircles the whole island, providing great snorkelling and scuba diving. Frank and I went on one snorkel trip ($5 per person) to scout out the reef and see if it was worth the splurge to go diving. We found that the reef is actually quite shallow and were able to see just as much marine life while snorkelling as you could diving! We had been travelling with our own snorkel gear, so living on the beach was perfect. Each morning, we would swim out to the reef (about 20-30 minute swim in each direction - great excercise) and snorkel the morning away. We saw sharks, massive tarpons, and beautiful spotted eagle rays and sting rays, in addition to many beautiful fish and coral.
Some days, when we could muscle up a little energy - we would hike around the island to other remote and private beaches. There are so many gorgeous and secluded beaches around the island.
There are no roads and no cars in Little Corn Island. There are a series of dirt paths cutting across, over, and up and down the island. These paths wind by private homes, wild groves of trees, and even some [illegal] marijuana fields. Yes, these local Caribes appreciate their marijuana. Around 5pm each day, that's all you smell sometimes. When deciding which great seafood restaurant to eat at, we would first "sniff out" the restaurants to make sure the cook wasn't too high to cook a proper meal.
Many fruits grow wild throughout the island, like pineapple and avocados. Mangoes were in season during our trip, so we would go mango-picking every day. Our daily breakfast and snack usually consisted of a half-dozen fresh mangos each. So good!
