Nicaragua

Greetings to friends and family who have not heard from us for a while. We seem to have hit the ground running here in Nicaragua and not slowed down long enough to blog about our experiences!

First off, we made the crossing from Barillas Marina in El Salvador to Puesta Del Sol Marina in Nicaragua on May 16, 2016. We left Barillas late in the afternoon for the overnight journey so as to arrive at our destination during the daylight since the entrance to Puesta Del Sol is an estuary and can be tricky and arrival at landfall is always best done in daylight, regardless. The guide boat led us osafely out of the estuary in El Salvador and we enjoyed sunny skies and nice sailing weather for the rest of the afternoon. But just around sunset we could see a squall line on the horizon so we set aside our dinner plates and took in the headsails. As the wind rapidly increased, we double reefed the mainsail as a precaution as well. Good thing too because soon after we were being pelted with sheets of rain driven by 35 knot winds.

An hour later we were still being inundated as we passed the mouth of the Gulf of Fonseca. We could see many fishing boats out on the sea and gave them a wide berth, but at one point we were jolted to attention by a green lazer being shined into our cockpit from an uncomfortably close distance. We steered away from the light and never could see the source in the driving rain. I swear for a moment I thought it was aliens! LOL Likely it was a small fishing boat with no navigational lights drifting around out in the storm. We have seen many of them, but never one so close.

Arrival into the marina the following morning was a welcome relief. The marina is tucked inside another estuary and is very protected from wind and swell. The water is teeming with small fish and the banks are thick with tangles of Mangrove. Two docks protrude from the resort style marina which sports a swimming pool, restaurant, showers, laundry room, office and two small hotel buildings. We  cleared into the country late in the afternoon when the port officials arrived from Corinto, a commercial port located about an hours drive further down the coast. The officials spoke Spanish only and I was able to understand about 90% of what was asked, but we fortunately also had the services of one of the marina staff as translator when needed. The cost to clear in was around $50 USD and that included a temporary cruising permit for the boat. Interestingly, we were soon to learn that visitors arriving by boat are truly given the red carpet service. The difference in how we were treated when we crossed the border on land to visit Costa Rica and return was shocking, but that is a story for later.