Pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/frunkus/albums/72157667720920350
Nitty Gritty planning details:
Sat - fly into Managua, Nicaragua, stay one night
Sun - fly to Big Corn Island
4:30p Boat to little corn island
Boat to Ensuenos
Stayed at Ensuenos 6 nights
Sat- Boat to south side Little Corn
Boat to Big Corn island
Fly to Managua, Nicaragua
Fly to LAX.
Here are the specific details/costs:
Delta flight direct LAX to MGA $597/person roundtrip
Lodging in Managua (if you need to stay a night in Managua before heading out on next flight): Airport x Managua Hotel, Residencial Montechristi Managua 11055 $45 total/night
https://www.thebookingbutton.co.uk/properties/airportxdirect
Aerotaxi La Costena Flight from MGA to CIS (Corn Island) $164/person
https://lacostena.online.com.ni/
Ensuenos
http://www.ensuenos-littlecornisland.com/
$70/night for 4 person cabin with kitchen (had to wired via Western Union 50% deposit to reserve, which seemed a bit sketchy, but it was legit. the property owner will let you know the details of what/where to wire)
Boat ride to Little Corn from big corn $5/person
When you fly into Big Corn, you need to catch a ferry (panga) to Little Corn.
I can't remember the times going out from Big Corn, I think it was something like 4:30pm
On the return panga ride from Little Corn, the times were 6:30am and 1:30pm.
Boat ride from Little Corn port to north side where Ensuenos is is $7/person... if you stay somewhere on the south/east side of the island where mostly everyone else stays, you don't have to take this extra boat ride, but I highly recommend the north side of the island because it is quieter and more secluded.
Food is expensive on the island because everything is shipped in (like $15 meals). I recommend bringing in camping food. We brought this:
Mountain House:
It is actually really good. We also had soup packets, spice packets, tortillas, canned tuna, pasta. Locally, we bought a bunch of veggies, pasta sauce.
Electricity is limited, so it's helpful to bring flashlights/lanterns.
Water is safe to drink at Ensuenos, but you'll want to look into filtration straws if you stay elsewhere, if they don't have filtered water.
I highly recommend bringing snorkel gear, the water is awesome for snorkeling. If you want to go on a snorkel tour (my husband did this and loved it because he was the only one there and they took him out on a sailboat) it's $20.
About 2 months prior to the trip I got typhoid vaccine. They also recommend that you've had Hep A and B, and TDAP.
Access to cash is limited. There were a couple cafes that were able to do a "cash back" sort of thing on your credit card, but it's recommended just to bring cash and not have to deal with it. I'd recommend having like $200 per person (after calculating for lodging and transportation), especially if you want to get in a few nice meals in the village). There are a couple cafes that have Wifi, I only connected once the whole week to let my family know I was still live :) and then went off the grid for the rest of the week.
I got emergency travel health insurance, mainly because I wanted something to cover my daughter in case we needed emergency evacuation. This website lets you compare various plans:
insuremytrip.com
I ended up going with CSA Travel Protection info@csatravelprotection.com
It was about $107 for 3 people for 1 week including evacuation.
I recommend going early May, it’s off high season, but the weather is still really nice.
