Category: Scuba Diving

I Like This Place! Corn Islands

Brian and I made it to Corn Islands on Saturday morning, and it’s very relaxing. There are a few things to do here in Corn Islands: dive, drink beer and/or rum, eat seafood, relax in the sun and/or shade, repeat. That’s been us for the first two days of our stay here. We like Corn Islands a lot.

About Corn Islands

A country that encompasses the Pacific coast, impressive volcanoes and massive lakes, Nicaragua also has a Caribbean side. And Corn Islands are Nicaragua’s Caribbean islands, 70 miles east of the mainland coast. Nicaragua is a bargain for visitors, and the islands are a little bit more expensive. Still, they’re more affordable than other more well-known Caribbean destinations, and highly touted for scuba divers. Unlike the rest of Nicaragua, most people in the islands speak English.

There are two Islands: Big and Little Corn. We chose Big Corn to maximize Brian’s vacation time. The planes fly into Big Corn and then there’s a ferry to get to Little Corn.

Corn Island Accommodations
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Scuba Training: I am a Rescue Diver

This week I took the course for my next levels of PADI Scuba, and now I am a Rescue Diver.  I also needed emergency response certification to complete the course, so it was a very intense week!

Course Materials

I had three books to read, study and memorize. Fortunately for me, two of the books were in English. The dive shop only had a Spanish version of the emergency response book. So now I know how to use a defibrillator and perform CPR and rescue breaths in Spanish.

Scuba books I am a rescue diver
The dive books I needed to memorize
Busy Week

This week, I spent Monday and Tuesday morning in Spanish class and Tuesday afternoon in scuba class, reviewing all the signs and symptoms of diver accidents and ailments.  I spent Tuesday afternoon and evening studying and then on Wednesday afternoon had a dive class in Spanish (the only available instructor speaks Spanish) about emergency response. Just to make things more difficult! What is life without new challenges? Needless to say, I spent a little less time at the gym this week.

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Scuba Diving in San Juan del Sur

San Juan del Sur is a surf town, but being on the ocean, you can scuba dive here too. It is definitely not common: after a few days searching, I was able to find one dive operator in town. Scuba diving in San Juan del Sur is possible! I got two dives in with Dive Nicaragua this past weekend and even used the go-pro underwater for the first time. It worked!

The dives weren’t the greatest dives I’ve ever done. The water is quite cold – less than 20. This isn’t the Caribbean, that’s for sure! The visibility also wasn’t fantastic. It really varied around, depending on the amount of sun shining and the waves kept bringing in lots of sand. All in all, it was still worth it. The dive master was very nice and the other client, a youngster from Germany, was very friendly and interesting. The weather was great and the scenery was pretty good too. One of the good aspects of diving is you can do it as a solo traveler.

The dive sites were close to the beach I visited last week, Playa Hermosa. At the first site, we dove around a statue of the Virgin Mary which was recently submerged in the water and is beginning to attract plant life. On both dives, we saw schools of fish and lots of rays and starfish. My photos aren’t the best, but they are OK.

Hermosa scuba diving in San Juan del Sur
Dive boat view
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