At the civilised hour of 8:00 a.m. the morning found us off this Nicaraguan port. Again, it is a general cargo area, no dedicated terminal and we will be berthing amongst cars and containers. There is a delay on arrival, a cargo ship is leaving the port and the entrance channel is only wide enough for 1 ship at a time. In the hinterland, one can see enormous palls of smoke, burning sugar-cane fields.
The outward bound cargo ship, (right); the other (left) is at anchor.
We wait until it is clear and the pilot from her comes over by tug, (apparently the pilot boat is out for maintenance), then commence our passage of the channel, initially straight, it then has an ‘S’ bend before reaching the dock.
Thomas, our 2nd-in-command is handling the ship this morning and it will involve going passed our berth, then swinging through 180° and then coming alongside. A tide is running and he has to compensate for it and, 25 minutes late because of the delay with the cargo ship, we are alongside and gangway in.
The docking track, (green)
K1 and Hazel are off on tour, so having completed most of my paperwork I took a few minutes to wander ashore. It is blazingly hot and quite humid.
Our berth, as seen from the river
Young dancers greet the guests as they disembark
The inevitable Market stalls
The main street
Favoured method of travel for many of our guests
Caught on camera; our Hotel Director, Henk and his wife, Christel, on their bicycle built for two.
