little corn island, NI
Little Corn Island is the larger of the two Corn Islands. 'Las Islas De Maiz' is what they are called in Spanish. The Corn Islands, if you are unfamiliar, — which I was before starting to plan this trip, are perfect and picturesque islands off of the east coast of Nicaragua. They look straight out of a magazine or a movie and they are almost entirely unknown. Well, not entirely unknown, but compared to most other Caribbean Island paradises, these two islands in Nicaragua may as well not exist. Little Corn is tiny. There are roughly 1,000 on little corn at any given time. So very, very small. To put that into perspective, that's a relatively small concert. It's because of its small size and rural beauty that it is the more popular of the two islands to visit for the tourists who come here. It's also a bit harder to get to. — Another reason probably why it's not visited frequently in the first place. There's no airport, so it's just that added little step that probably does a lot to keep it undiscovered-ish. Now Little Corn is certainly my favorite of the two. You will land on Big Corn from the mainland (by boat or plane), and you have to take a lancha to Little Corn. There are no cars, no roads, just walking paths. But the beaches are beautiful, the people kind and warm, the food delicious and straight form the sea. You can easily come here, stay for a week and live solely off of the copious amount of coconuts on the east side of the island. When you are here don't expect to be overwhelmed with things to do. It's a place to chill and relax. To see the few things on the island that are important to go see. You can go and do some excellent diving, have some lobster, explore, and just chill for the most part the rest of the time. It's a place to come and be slow. There won't really be any nightlife outside of one bar where people may waste away in for a bit, but just soak up one of the last places in the traveled Caribbean that has no resort on it.
The smaller of the two Corn Islands located off the eastern coast of Nicaragua in the Caribbean. You can fly directly to Big Corn Island from Managua, or if you are going by land things will be a little bit more difficult. First things first, get to Bluefields if you are traveling by land. Once you arrive in Big Corn, next you are going to need to get on a boat to get over to Little Corn.
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GETTING TO CORN ISLAND BY LAND-
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Option #1 - To get here you will have to take a ferry. The ferry ONLY OPERATES ON WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY AT 9AM. If you miss one of these you will be stuck. Nowhere online to book, so you just have to show up and ask around.
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I would recommend getting to the ferry around 6 in the morning. The ferry can fill up, and there is no way to buy ferry tickets beforehand. So if you are late, in the back of the line, and don't get a ticket, you are screwed for 3 days.
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The ferry is going to cost you about $7USD. The ferry leaves at 9 in the morning, and the journey takes 6 hours. You will arrive in Big Corn around 3 in the afternoon with plenty of time to get over to Little Corn if that's your goal.
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The ferry boards at the port.
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Option #2 - If you want to be really adventurous, and I recommend this, get on a cargo ship. Cargo ships leave daily from the port in Bluefields out to the Corn Islands. Walk down to the port, which is a crazy experience on its own, and ask around. There will usually be someone going out there, and they won't charge you much.
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Option #3 - Take a panga to Bluff and figure it out. There were no cargo ships leaving from Bluefields when I wanted to leave, so we had to get out to Bluff. A lot of ships only leave from there. You can catch a little panga out to Bluff and there ask around about ships. The boys with the pangas will know if there are cargo ships heading out from Bluff and they won't take you out there unless there is.
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Worst Case - There's an airport here that goes out to the islands. If you miss the ferry and don't want to cargo ship it or lobster boat it, then you can hop on a plane.
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GETTING FROM BIG CORN TO LITTLE CORN - Once you arrive in Big Corn you'll just have to grab a pretty simple little speedboat over to Little Corn Island. You can pick up the speedboat here, and that's also where you buy your ticket. It costs $10 each way. More than the ferry from the main island. The boats leave at 10AM or at 4:30. So right after you get off the ferry I would recommend going to get your ticket. The ride will take about 45 minutes.
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GETTING TO CORN ISLAND BY AIR - I would recommend that you just fly from Managua. You can book your flight here, you will save about a day of your life, but you won't have a journey to talk about for the rest of your life. Once you arrive in Big Corn you will still need to get yourself over to Little Corn with the speedboat.
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
You don't have a lot of options when it comes to housing in Little Corn, but there are a few. Some of them are on different sides of the island, and you get dropped off at the dock on the west side of the island. Some of these places are on the east side or the north side of the island.
So if you choose any of the housing options on the other side of the island, you will have to walk to them. It's a very hot place — the Corn Islands, so it will be sweaty. But the housing on the other side of the island is very remote, and super-memorable for that reason.
Amazing spot over on the east side of the island. You are going to be very secluded over here, but it's probably the most popular hostel on the island amongst travelers. It's decorated in a reggae style all over the place, and it's just generally a vibe. — Or as they say, a cool spot. The east side of the island also gets wind, so you get a break from the pretty intense heat that exists on the west.
Probably the nicest hotel on the west side of the island. It's not super cheap, but they have air conditioning which is huge because of how hot it can get here. The location is also really good, — right next to the dive shop and close to all the places to get food.
Very cheap option to stay in a little local spot on the island. It will be like $12 for a room, and it's not a dorm. So it's cheap and very well-located near all the... well, the few restaurants.
A very, very special place. One of my friends describes this as the best place he has ever stayed. It's a really basic (but because of that unique and interesting) hostel on the north side of the island. There's practically no electricity, and you are really primitively staying in little shack. It's really beautiful, in a very remote way.
EATS
The eating options in Little Corn Island are just about as limited as everything else on this tiny-ass island. But there are a few places to go. There's not really a grocery store, but there's some places to buy food to cook for yourself as well.
You could, — should you want, probably survive here off of coconuts if you wanted to.
The food options that there are here are really tasty though.
Restaurants
Went here almost every night for dinner. Bridget is a lovely human being, and she makes the food right in her house. It tastes home-made, and it's amazing. If in season try the lobster, — it's very cheap compared to other places. The beer smells like fish, and that's a sign you're really eating local. Give it a try, then come back.
Cool bar and restaurant right on the sand, with one of the best views you'll ever have. Not the cheapest place on the island though.
Chill spot for food and drinks. Right on the water, and right on the main road as well.
Really tasty restaurant on the road that connects the east and the west side of the island. Totally worth a visit.
There's a little house on the west wide of the island where this section links to, and she makes really good pizza a few times a week. You usually have to order earlier in the day, and it's not like a restaurant or anything. You just have to walk around and ask for pizza, and you will be pointed in the right direction.
Everyone's favorite on the island. When I was there it didn't exist, because a hurricane had blown it down. But it looks to be back and better than ever. Good breakfast and smoothies and stuff like that.
NIGHTLIFE
There's no nightlife here. I hear when the island is crowded that Grace's Cool Spot kind of turns into a little party, but other than that you are out of luck. You can go and get down with all the locals at Reggae Bar till late every night. It will be a hell of an experience.
SIGHTS
Little Corn is tiny. You can walk around the entire thing in the course of a day after all. But that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of cool things to do. The cool things to do run out really quick, but they still exist.
Below are the things that I found worthy of doing out here.
Assuming you aren't staying over here, you should make time to go and visit the harder to access beaches on the north side of the island. I haven't a clue what this beach is called, but it is stunning. It's over on the north side, kind of near Otto Beach. But where the pin is was my favorite beach on the island.
If you aren't staying out here it's a necessary thing to do to take a walk over to the east side of the island. The wind picks up and the heat goes away a bit. But it's a whole different-looking island on that side, and it's great. The whole beach is just covered with coconut trees that are as full of coconuts as I have ever seen.
If you are into kitesurfing or want to learn, you can do that here. The east side of the island picks up a lot of wind, and you can learn or kite over here.
TRY RONDON
The local delicacy is called 'Rondon'. Named as such because when ever you are cooking it the whole town can smell it, and they all "run down". Say it with a Caribbean accent and it makes a lot more sense. But it's not something that you will easily find. Ask a local and maybe they will cook it for you or tell you when the next Rondon is being made. The locals are nice and welcoming.
I had some rondon in a local's shack with my best friend, with fish we speared that day and it's one of my favorite Little Corn memories.
While walking over to the north you will walk past a very strange solar panel farm. The Nicaraguan government built a massive solar panel farm to power the island. But they never turned it on... A very weird thing to see, that is very very Nicaraguan.
There's beautiful diving in the corn islands. Very untouched because of how scarcely traveled this place is, so it's pretty pristine. There's a few shops on the island, but the one I went with was Dolphin Dive. The others are Las Palmeras, and Olivers.
NOTHING
Just do nothing. Hang out and go in the ocean when you get too hot. Then hang out again. Have a Toña. Get back in the water with the Toña. Then get another one and take a nap.
SURFING
Kiting. But no waves.