Cordlargo, below is a paste of my trip report from this last January.
Have fun!!! Wish I was going diving soon but I have to wait till November and am planning a trip to Lembeh.
Ok here's my trip report on Little Corn Island.
As I said in my earlier post I got stuck on Big Corn for two days due to high wind/seas. When we made the trip to LCI the swells were down to 6'. It was quite a ride. Bumpy, wet,and quite an experience. ( our ride back 30 days later was smooth as silk though)
We arrived and checked in to Casa Iguana and then in to town to check out the dive shops. Both Dolphin Dive, and Dive Little Corn. I decided to dive with Dive Little Corn, as they have a really good deal if your staying at Casa Iguana. If you do 10 dives it turns out to be $20/tank. Pretty darn cheap. And as I was there for a month and did 28 dives it was a great deal.
The Shop: well run,most equipment is pretty new, cept for the wetties. One downfall, all their fins are split fins which I find to have no power. I did find one pair that were a bit stiffer than all the rest and used them for the whole time.
The Boats: they have two and run both if they need to. They are pretty small and can get crowded, but the boat rides are very short at 10-15 min. They do manage to get everyone kitted up and in the water without to much hassle. The Boat captains are top notch helpful and friendly.
The Dive Masters: All in all quite good. At the start I did have issues with one trying to get him to slow down ( I shoot photos ) but after a discussion with the manager and thedive master he adjusted and worked out quite well. ( yes Jeff, slow down, there's such things as marine life behavior to watch, and good photos take time, and what the hell we're on vacation ) They are the safest operation I've probably dove with and for good reason. It's 6 hours to a recomp chamber, and they do have lot's of beginning/newer divers. Most of their business is in c-cards but they did a good job a pleasing me (experienced diver).By the end of my trip I was treated like one of the family and it was like diving with good friends. Lot's of smiles, laughs, and great dives.
The Dive Sites: I got to dive most the sites round the island ( 28 dives) so I have a pretty good feeling for the place. Most site's are pretty shallow, but don't expect 60min bottom time. Bottom time's averaged 45 min. I ended up mostly diving once a day at 11:00am. I would have loved to dive my computer/air limits but do understand safety issues. My favorite site round the island was Buoy-the rocks. The windy side of the island has the best vis. which can vary with wind. The vis varied the time I was there, it was anywhere from 25 feet to 65 feet. On avrg. vis was about40- 50 feet.
I did get to dive Blowing Rock, the best site there twice. It's a 45 min boat ride done as a two tank trip. Spectacular. The site is a pinnacle that rises from 80 feet to the surface. Really nice site. It dosn't get fished, so has lot's of marine life and some really huge fish. I saw a 5' barracuda, and some really fat 2' Jacks and Snapper. It has huge boulder fields and and one point rises from 60' to the surface. Pretty epic spot. There are some fun swim throughs at Shark Hole and Grants Cave. Did one dive from Shark Hole to Grants Cave and that was really fun. White Hole tends to have the best vis. John's Garden was an aquarium dive, Stanley was a nice site also, but Buoy was my favorite for the combination of vis and marine life. It has the most macro life,generally good vis, and of course very healthy coral.
The Marine Life: LCI has really healthy and diverse coral. Really healthy. White Holes has a really spectacular Elkhorn coral forest, actively growing, and very pretty. The Fish life is pretty diverse and abundant. I saw lots of nurse sharks, a few eagle rays, and did get to see a 5' cobia. ( kind of a shark body with whale shark mouth ). There aren't a lot of Morays, but I did see a couple of huge greens and one very photogenic spotted. I was very lucky and one one dive there was a school of spawning parrot fish with the female swimming up twords the surface and males spiraling around her.( It was close to the full moon ) Really cool. At Ensueno's Cave there was a 4-tarpon and what I believe to be a Hairy? toadfish. It was a toadfish but not a leopard and wasn't in the book. There is some nice macro life to be found also. Nice secretary blennies, pederson cleaner shrimp, banded coral shrimp, very shy banded aneneme crabs, juevenile spotted drums, arrow crabs, and lots of flamingo tongue cowries.All in all the diving is nice.
The Island: No roads, no cars, no shopping. Really laid back, very nice people, great food, ( not super cheap ) very rustic island, wonderful for a combination of lazing in a hammock and diving. My wife dosn't dive so I generally did one a day, she would meet me in town, we'd go have lunch at one of the yummy restaurants, then back to nap, read, laze in our hammocks. ( By the way We loved Casa Iguana). There are all kinds of places to stay from rustic chic to rustic rustic. You can get a very rustic cabana on the beach for $25 or less. The food is really good all over the island with some really good $12-14 Lobster meals. The coconut bread french toast at Casa Iguana is to die for ( like fried eggs? get it with a side of eggs to put on top!). Habana Libre for anything with cuban sause, Bridget's for super authentic local flair,Elsa's for anything with garlic suase, Rose's for pasta with lobster, mango's pizza for a pizza fix ( don't order anything but a medium they're big and have plenty of cheese)((make sure to have garlic on it))LCBB for filet mignon, and Casa Iguana for very tasty won't go home hungry social dinners.Plus you got to try the basilito's at Casa Iguana. We will go back as the island is perfect for our style. I get to dive once a day, spend lot's of time lazing in a hammock, and there's plenty of choices to stay and eat.
Dirtfarmer
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