Island Hopped

Little Corn, Corn Islands, Nicaragua

“Want to go to Little Corn?” asked Tez.
“Sure. Do you know when the ferry comes?”
“No, I’ll ask Stella.”

The hotel owner looks at her watch. “Oh, sometime around 10:00.” It’s 9:45.

We bundled up our stuff, threw on our packs and handed over a wad of money to Stella for two nights accommodation on Big Corn and ran to the municipal dock. The ferries to Little Corn have been canceled for the past three days because of bad weather (The wind mentioned in the last past and the waves associated with it). Today there wasn’t much improvement but they had died down enough to create navigable waves.

We arrived at the boat just as it was about to depart. I threw in my bag and took a seat next to Tez in the front row. I looked at the bags in front of me and they were all wrapped in garbage bags. The people in the boat were also covering themselves with a large tarp. Hmmm…Tiny boat plus massive waves plus front row seat equals a very wet ride. The boat departed and the first of many waves crashed over the bow. The boat continued to slam against the waves and I continued to be thrown into the air and slammed back down onto my seat with a fresh wave eager to make my acquaintance.

This isn’t going to a smooth or a dry ride so lets make the most of it. I stood up, held onto a rope and got a front row seat of the waves. Thirty minutes later I was on Little Corn. Invigorated, Completely drenched and eyes stinging from the salt water.

Shortly after arrival the weather began clearing up. The sun shines for most of the day with a gentle breeze and rain is limited to the mornings before I wake up. The island of Little Corn is how I pictured it would be. Small, remote and low-key. There is no motorized transport, no ATM’s and no electricity between 5:00 am and 2:00 pm. Just the kind of place that I was looking to stay in to enjoy some Caribbean vibes and diving.

I found a cheap place to stay at $7.00 a night, found a good diving deal and am still searching for cheap food. There is no street food and no comedors. The restaurants on the island charge more for one meal than what I pay for a nights accommodation. There is something wrong when a meal is more expensive then lodging. I won’t pay those prices so my food consists of oatmeal with banana’s, fresh baked coconut bread with cheese and Cup O’ Noodles. The only reasonably price meal is breakfast at $3.00 so that’s my hot meal of the day. Thinking ahead I snuck a liter of rum through the airport in my bag or else alcohol on New Years would be an expensive proposition.

Diving
For the first day on Little Corn the dive boats weren’t going out because of the weather. The boats started going out on Wednesday but I waited an extra day for the waters to calm down hoping visibility would increase. Visibility was okay but the first two of the five dives were a bit disappointing. I was expecting a reef as vibrant and as large as what was in Utila. I wanted to see massive walls of coral and an abundance of fish. Based on the first two dives I don’t think those expectations will be met but I’m hoping visibility and water conditions improve so that on Sunday we can go to some better dive locations. Still, the sensation of being with the fish is amazing. Swimming through coral tunnels, seeing massive porcupine puffer hiding in small caverns. Angel fish, puffer fish, trigger fish. It’s still a sight not seen every day and I’m eager for the next three dives.