Blogs from Caribbean Nicaragua, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean

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My last visit was to the Southern section of the country. I also had a new translator join me this week so it was nice to have a new perspective. He only recently joined CEPAD after working with medical missions for many years. While he has not been to the US he had better conversational English and a greater understanding of the culture/way of life so we were able to have many interesting conversations. The first village we visited was El Nispero. This town has no electricity. So some of the women, if they are lucky, have a basic solar panel and battery. Depending on how much sunlight they get it is enough to turn on the lights at night, charge phones, and maybe a small TV in the summer. Greta: She is a single mom ... read more
Juanita  and her Daughter Sell Second Hand Clothes
Fabiola's Bakery Case
Fabiola's Store


After Granada, I had decided to visit the Corn Islands in the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. The Corn Islands are about 70KM away from mainland Nicaragua and consist of two islands - Big Corn (10 Sq KM area) and Little Corn (2 Sq KM area). My plan was to stay in Little Corn only as it's more rustic and basic. The journey from mainland Nicaragua to Corn Island can be done via a long bus and very long ferry or by a flight from Managua. Given the time involved, I decided to take the flight from Managua to Big Corn and then the ferry to Little Corn. Corn Islands are well known for diving, snorkeling and the Caribbean vibe. These islands used to be under British control, so English is easily spoken and understood. Little Corn, ... read more
Little Corn Island
Little Corn Island
Little Corn Island


The Corn Islands, especially Little Corn Island, is living up to expectations....laid-back, sun, sand, snorkeling, fishing, beachcoming and coconuts. Hotels and hostels pick the best spots on the circumferential beaches: from the high end Yemaya ($300), to the one my travel partner and I chose, Little Corn Beach and Bungalow ($54++), to our favourite that we are at now, the more rudimentary, beachfront Elsa's Place ($30, two bdrm, bath, kitchen access). Sun rises over the sea and beach, snorkeling straight out to the reefs 200m off shore. Coffee and tea brewing in the kitchen. Fishing has been pretty cool; predictably tons of ground fish plus one to three of the more elusive Barracuda, Mackerel or King Fish all within 3 hours. Lots of conch. However, lobster, which comes mainly from Big Corn Island is in over-fished ... read more
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The speedboat ride on the open ocean from San Juan del Norte to Bluefields reminds us of our San Blas trip and again the waves were smashing and spine crushing, nonetheless the trip being nothing short from amazing, and all went well. We prefer not to travel by plane. There are several reasons for this. One being that by flying over a (big part of) a country you don’t see or experience anything. Second is the relatively high costs and third is the fact I (Merijn) am carrying with me an extra 18 kg bag with a 140 cm kiteboard and two kites, which is not a problem with boats and busses but a lot more ... read more
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The last days on Small Corn Island were pretty lazy: just reading, beach combing, snorkelling and meeting with my Pina Colada buddies Blaine and Ruth from Prince George (they travel for 6mos every year (been nearly everywhere) and with the remaining 6mos spent at their off-line lakeside ‘cabin’ near Bear Lake, BC. Anyway as to adventure: Elsa* invited family (*I was staying at Elsa’s beach cabins), plus some resort owner friends, plus 5 venture-minded folk like me, to head out from Small Corn Island across the ocean via 2 hour panga ride to the Pearl Cayes, some sandy ‘Robinson Crusoe’ isles off the mainland coast. Many of them are privately leased from the Nica government, mostly uninhabited and the beaches remain officially public. On some you can walk around circumferential beaches in less than 5 minutes. ... read more
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This has to be the best winter vacation place l've visited to-date. If it weren't so damn difficult to get to (a non-direct flight into Managua, then small plane via Bluefields to Big Corn Island, finally an up-and-down, bang'n splash, ride through the sea via panga to Small Corn Island) it would be crawling with tourists...... divers, snorkelers, wind surfers, beach combers, bar hoppers, and lots of lazy layabouts... and even some environmentalists. I'm sitting at Casa Iguana (for breakfast & internet) on a headland overlooking much of the eastern shoreline of Small Corn Island; halfway along is Elsa's Place where I'm renting a small cabana. You can walk around about half of the whole island, from bay to bay, all on coral sand shoreline. Walking is a big deal on this isolated isle: like there's ... read more
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Hello, Can anyone recommend an itinerary for a week to Nicaragua in December/January that combines must sees and separate time to relax at a beach resort. I need to consider distance between where I stay as well, so that I don't spend a lot of time going from one area to see sights and then going to a beach resort. Any suggestions? Thanks, Beth... read more


Happy New Year to all our readers! Here is it, the first venture of Tiffany and Leslie in Central America...and a pretty long trip to reach Little Corn Island, on the Caribbean side of Nicaragua. We left LAX just before midnight on United, direction Houston....3 hours flight, 4 hours transfer, and 3 more hours flight to Managua. In Managua, we transfer to La Costena, the domestic airline for our flight to Corn Island. There is Corn Island, and Little Corn Island. Big Corn is 47 miles out of the coast of Nicaragua....and Little Corn is just few miles of that. Our domestic flight is just 2 hours delayed. I was scared of the extra bags issues...we had the right for 14kg per person...and we were clearly over, traveling with not only diving gears, but skiing gear ... read more
It's lobster time! A meal like this is only 7usd!
Wild beaches...
The end of another relax day...


We arrived on Little Corn shortly before sundown and walked up to our hostel. The restaurant was closed since they'd had a going away party down at the beach for an old employee so we had a quick bite in town and found a great lending library at Tranquilo, one of the major hangouts on the main strip. We grabbed a Mexico travel book and Mockingjay; finally we'd be able to finish a book that we were half done when we left home. Water Sporting The next week and a half was awesome. We didn't have a ton of ways to pass the time but we made alright use of our time there. One of the main things we wanted to do was get a couple more dives under our belts. We ended up doing seven ... read more
Snorkeling Away
Paddleboard Fun
Night Dive: Remoras


With so much sand around it is polite to remove footwear before entering a business. They had a sign at our hotel, some of the bars, even the dive shop we went to. This made for interesting shoe swapping sometimes; once between dives someone took their right sandal and Ashley's left (it was back after lunch), and puppies made off with one of Dan's sandals while we had a coffee and smoothie one afternoon (found only a little ways down the beach). Often people just wouldn't wear shoes. Night Times We hit up bingo on Sunday night at Desideri with proceeds going to the spay & neuter clinic. Dan won a round that earned us a 90 min paddle board rental; something Ashley's been wanting to try. Tuesday was trivia night at Tranquilo where our team ... read more




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