by Coco Palmer
Corn Island is a beautiful, unspoiled place. Its white sand beaches, turquoise waters, swaying palms, and coral reefs are the stuff of hedonist getaway dreams. Eleven square kilometers of postcard picture scenes everywhere you turn: tropical forested hills, mangroves, and beaches.
It is also a place clearly at a crossroads. The Island has had ever-shifting populations and their means of subsistence have varied. It is poised to remake itself as a tourist destination, and the time is now.
What is the story? Legend has it that the first name given to Corn Island was Skeleton Island due to table scraps left over from the resident Kukra Indians’ cannibalistic appetites. English pirates and a few French, Dutch, and other Europeans used the Island as a base of operations and resupply for their raids against the rival Spanish Empire’s fleet and settlements in the region.
