New airport under construction in Ometepe for 2012
 

A new airport -- "airstrip" might be a better word -- is being built on the island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua, a couple of miles outside the town of Moyogalpa. If all goes according to plan, it is expected to open in "early" 2012. Nature Air has expressed interest in flying there from Managua and Liberia, Costa Rica, although nothing is definite yet. The runway should be able to handle small regional planes that carry about 40 passengers.

An artist's drawing:

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...ff/ometepe.jpg

Interesting, thanks for posting Jeff. It's on my list, and do have to admit the logistics of getting there by ferry have limited serious looking. I'm glad though it is an airstrip though, instead of an airport.

Part of the fun of Ometepe for me has always been the boat crossing. I'm not a fan of the small passenger-only boats that make the trip. The crossing can be rough. But a pedestrian can go on the big car ferries. The ride is very smooth on those.

I'll sure give the flight a try when the airport opens and an airline starts flying there.

I've made the crossing from San Jorge to Moyogalpa more than 20 times, and as Jeff said, the large ferries are much better than the Karen Maria and the other smaller, wooden boats. Word to the wise: they're also the only things in Nicaragua that operate on time -- sometimes even departing 5 minutes early!

I'm told that there was once a landing strip on Ometepe that was destroyed when Concepcion (the active volcano on the island) erupted. No one was eager to rebuild it, since air strips such as that one are perfect for drug running. Let's hope that's not the case with the new "Ometepe International".

As I understand it, this is the site of the onetime airstrip. The possibility of drug running was my first thought too, but if the airport is just outside of town, everybody is going to be able to see and/or hear any planes coming and going. You'd hope suspicions would be aroused if that goes on in hte middle of the night.

Unfortunately there goes everything that makes Ometepe so unique. With the arrival of a scheduled airline, even a small one, the island will become overrun with tourists who will be expecting "all the comforts of home". This is really sad news!

I just came back from Ometepe a couple of weeks ago and it looks like it'll be another month or so before the airport/airstip is operational. Been there a couple of time already. It'll be interesting to see what kind of changes it'll bring to Ometepe. Ometepe is unique, and peaceful but will it be destroyed? Is the projected influx of tourist be a good economic decision ....