We left Apoyo and went back to Managua to get hop on a small regional flight to a Nicaraguan island in the Caribbean called Big Corn Island. We took off on a twin prop engine plane.
A small plane that would later seem enormous.
It took us a little by surprise when we landed at an airport 45 minutes later. Thankfully we could kind of understand the Spanish announcement that informed us to stay on the plane if we were continuing on to the Corn Island.
When we landed, we were a little taken aback by some of displays of what appeared to be poverty. Many people living in what looked like shacks were all over the island and even right next to our AirBnb house.
Our next door neighbor.
But I can say without a question that we never once felt in danger. In fact, we never came across anyone who didn’t wave and smile and offer any help. The people living on the island were incredible. We interacted with everyone we came in contact with. The bonus was that almost everyone spoke English. Having been in almost exclusively Spanish speaking countries for a couple of months, this was a welcome change.
We walked to the beach a few times for the kids to play in the amazingly calm ocean water.
Evening beach play
But we really needed a way to get around the island so we rented The Green Monster. It really was a monster. After it not working for half of the time we needed it, we finally had them trade it in for a golf cart. And while slower, at least it started.
We ended up diving with the first of the two dive shops on the island after stopping in to meet them. Corn Island Dive Center had brand new equipment, and the dive instructor was wonderful. We also loved that each for each dive, they sent a dive master with us as well so that Scott and I could dive separate from the kids.
The diving was simply amazing. The close reefs were beautiful and in amazing shape. We saw huge eagle rays, giant sting rays, nurse sharks, and an abundance of fish.
A huge sting ray keeping his eye on us.
And of course, I was over the moon to see Christmas tree worms, as well as our first sea pearls. So pretty.
Our first sea pearl
The visibility was unbeatable, the water was warm, and the underwater scenery rivaled that off the coast of Bali.
On one of the best days for diving, we jumped in a boat and went out about 45 minutes. Out in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere, a huge volcanic rock pops up out of the ocean.
Blowing rock is a volcanic rock structure sticking up out in the middle of nowhere.
The dive site is called Blowing Rock, and it was one of the coolest places to dive. Eagle rays were swimming with reef sharks, large midnight blue parrotfish were all over, and the various species of fish and reef were amazing. Large barracuda and even a king mackerel rounded out our day. We also found crabs and spiny lobsters.
Spiny lobster
One dive even included a tiny blue and white cleaner shrimp.
A tiny little cleaner shrimp
We loved the island. We loved the people. The beaches were amazing with sand in some areas and volcanic rock in others. We even found some pretty amazing restaurants.
Beachside restaurant view
The last full day we were there, Caden finished up his Junior Advanced Open Water certification. He was pretty proud.
Caden prepping with his instructor for the navigation portion of his JAOW.
We also watched as what would become Hurricane Nate formed directly over us. It was the only day we were there where you could see large waves on the water.
The next day, we went to the airport. For some still-unclear reason, they split up our one flight into two smaller and separate flights. We were delayed leaving by over an hour, but we were also eager to get off the island before Nate turned into a cyclone. Once we saw the plane we would be flying out in (in horrible weather), my excitement turned into fear. The plane was a tiny 12 seat Cessna.
It should have been a nope when we saw the plane.
The turbulence wasn’t too horrible (only one gut wrenching drop or two during the flight), but seeing the captain of the plane asleep for most of it certainly increased my anxiety.
That man in the front row sleeping is our captain.
We landed safely (although with a few more gray hairs and wrinkles) and hopped into our car for our final out of country leg of the trip for two weeks in San Juan del Sur. Little did we know at that point that Nate would have other plans for us…
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