Anastasia's on the Sea

Costa Norte

Big Corn Island , Nicaragua http://www.cornislandresort.com/

505 937 0016

The property has low-rent oceanfront rooms for strapped travelers. Walk the 20 paces to the end of the pier, over the dazzling blue-green shallows and into the rustic, colonnaded one-room restaurant. It's intimate but not claustrophobic, bare wooden walls with blue-and-white trim, open windows, snorkels and flippers for rent in a corner; an absolutely cool, cozy place surrounded by nothing but sky and sea in 20 shades of blue. Order a lunch of lobster, fried shrimp, and Toña beer; it's pretext for sitting a long, long time and feeling happy to be alive.