Boats and ferries

11/02/16

I am sitting on the ferry waiting to go. We are heading to Great Corn Island. I am sitting on the deck outside on a plastic lawn chair. Inside there are more lawn chairs and some bunk beds with questionable bedding. Down on the deck below, a pig snoozes. On the side deck, a big pile of gravel. The young man who sold me my ticket tells me it is the express boat - only 3 1/2 hours. That remains to be seen. I have yet to see the bathroom facilities. I will save that for later.

We left this morning from the hotel at 7:45. The hotel was a pleasant surprise. A clean room with tile floors and decent mirrors, a very clean bathroom and the most comfortable bed I have slept in, in the past 2 weeks. I could have stayed in Rama just for that bed.

Nonetheless at 7:45 out we went. We headed to the municipal dock to catch the panga going to Bluefields. The ferry takes about 8 hours but the panga, a small wooden boat which fits aobut 13 people, takes 1 1/2 hours. At the dock, we had to pass a kind of customs and then we went down to the quay. When there were enough passengers, we would leave. The panga was loaded with an amazing amount of boxes. They were covered in plastic sheeting and then we boarded. Wtih all the cargo, there was room for only 8 passengers. I was travelling with a Finn woman and a Swedish man. The local people piled in and took the middle spots and refused to move over for us. We had the side spots. Nonetheless it was a dry trip. The boatman handed out life jackets which helped with the wind. When it started to rain, we unrolled the plastic sheeting at our feet and rolled it over ourselves.

An hour and a half later, we are at the dock of Bluefields, named after a famous Dutch pirate. I ask a local man about catching the ferry today to Corn Island. He says it is possible but I have to go to the other dock in a taxi and then take another panga for the Bluff to catch the ferry there. His friend puts me in his taxi and off we go thru the crowded streets of Bluefields. I am hearing Caribbean English for the first time.

At the dock, again I wait with a group of others.The rain comes and goes, then we load onto the panga, this time with 13 people and are taken to the Bluff. After another wait, we are allowed onto the quay and onto the ferry. Heading to the Corn Islands. And off we go.