Diterbitake: 06.02.2018
From León we had a slightly longer journey to Little Corn Island. First by bus to Managua, from there by taxi to the airport, then by plane to Big Corn Island, then by taxi to the ferry terminal and finally by speedboat to Little Corn Island, which took 40 minutes. The last part was quite challenging. There were strong waves and our boat was rocking in the water. We were soaked in no time. Luckily, there was a tarp in the boat that we could hold over our heads to protect ourselves from the waves. It was a bit like a roller coaster ride, as we were lifted out of our seats at times. But it was quite fun😊. After that, we only had to move into our bungalow in the first row by the beach, about 3 meters away from the sea.
Unfortunately, the weather on Corn Island is not so great at the moment. It's a bit windy and there are occasional heavy showers. But we were determined to go there, so we were willing to tolerate the somewhat unfavorable conditions.
On the first day, we explored the island. We climbed the lighthouse to get a view of the whole island and then walked along the beaches and through the forest. The island is really beautiful and the turquoise blue water is something you usually only see in pictures. At the end of the day, we treated ourselves to a delicious lobster each. In the menu, it came with salad and dessert for about 6 euros😉.
The weather was much better in the morning of the second day, so we spent the morning and afternoon sunbathing in front of our bungalow. In the afternoon, it got very stormy, but we had already soaked up enough sun.
In the evening, there was supposed to be a bonfire night at our accommodation, where you could pre-order food from the grill. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't any better in the evening, so we couldn't have the bonfire. But we still had dinner at the restaurant. There were about 15 people from different countries sitting at a big table. It was a really fun evening and the kingfish we ordered was delicious. We also had a nice Coco Loco, coconut water with rum served in a coconut. Unfortunately, the bar closed at 9, so the evening ended relatively early.
We had signed up for snorkeling the next day. But since we didn't have enough people, the tour didn't happen, so we had to postpone it to the next day. So we spent the rest of the day relaxing in front of our bungalow again. That wasn't a bad alternative either😉.
In the evening, we pre-ordered Rondon. It's a typical dish on the Corn Islands. It's a kind of stew with vegetables in a coconut sauce. It also includes shrimp, lobster, and a whole fish. It was really delicious. But the portion was so big that even I could hardly finish it.
On the last day of our stay, we finally got to go snorkeling. We went out to sea at 9 am with 2 French people. The water at the first spot was relatively calm, so we could snorkel comfortably. Unfortunately, there were no colorful corals or lots of fish to see here. The only highlight was a large stingray swimming beneath us.
We then went further out to sea for the second spot. The waves were already very rough here. It was really not easy to snorkel there. Unfortunately, there were no colorful corals either. But we did see two nurse sharks and two more stingrays. That was pretty cool, but overall we were quite disappointed with the trip. We expected much more.
On the next day, our time on Little Corn Island was already over. Despite the not always good weather, we had a few really nice and relaxed days.
We then took the speedboat back to Big Corn Island and from there by plane to Managua. Our next destination was Ometepe Island. Since we couldn't make it all the way there in one day, we decided to make a stopover in Jinotepe. In the evening, we had arranged to meet for dinner there. Unfortunately, it didn't work out with our accommodation. Despite the booking confirmation, the accommodation was full. So, our only option was to stay with the family's son-in-law, which was a bit uncomfortable for us. Fortunately, we were able to stay with Kathrin's acquaintances instead. After a very stressful day, we headed to Ometepe the next day.