06 April 2013; At Sea.

When the Tehantepecer blows near Hualtalco there is a similar phenomenon near Nicaragua, only less severe. Tehantepec suffers from this funnel wind that comes through a mountain gap and then increases in velocity due to that gap. That wind is produced by Cold Fronts in the Caribbean Sea, if the wind flow is South West. In Nicaragua there is a similar gap in the mountain ridge which is called Lake Nicaragua, because the “gap” is much wider the funnel wind is less severe. So instead of 50 to 60 knots we only get 25 to 30 knots, and that is what we had this morning when we sailed through the sea area West of Nicaragua. That wind speed does not bother us that much apart from the fact that it slows us down. The wind blows over the surface and enhances the NW current that is already flowing through this area. NW and we are going SE, so it is against us. By 0700 the ship was barely making 17 knots over the ground while it did 19 knots through the water. Not good for a captain who wants to be on time and is on a tight schedule to start with. By 11 am we were past this area and within 15 minutes the wind had died down from 25 knots to 2 knots as we came under the Costa Rican Coast. It took the current a bit longer to ease off but by late afternoon we were down to the .5 knots that is normal for this area. That means that for the rest of the day we will be holding the schedule and hopefully we will go a little bit in the plus. When we enter the Gulf of Panama we get another adverse wind and current flow and by then I hope to be sufficiently “in the plus” for it all to balance out.

 I have not blogged anything yet about the ships project in Corinto, Nicaragua. We did really well there during our last two visits and the plan is to continue to do so. My challenge at the moment is to find out what they have done themselves in the mean time, as we left sufficient materials behind to repaint at least two other class rooms. The issue is the communication as it all has to go via the agent. So the plan is now to stack up on school supplies, go there (22 April) make an inventory and then have a real go at it during the next call. (Which will be 26 November) I still have 1200 dollar in the kitty which I will partly spend on school supplies as they are easy to get through customs. (Remember last time, we gave all the visiting school kids a backpack and tote bag and they marched all the stuff out of the front gate.

Now I have one request to those of you who read my blog. Can you find me a chair EXACTLY as on the photo somewhere for sale on the internet? I have been googling all over the place but no luck thus far. The head teacher has asked for more chairs, but insists on the exact same chair as it is Government approved and also it seems to be the only chair that survives a Nicaraguan school class re-enacting the 2nd world war every day.

This is the chair for toddler class. 9 inches high on the feet, 9 inches wide on the seat and 9 inches high on the back. If you know or have come across this specific model somewhere on the internet please let me know. Thank you very much.

 Apart from my worries about the current, we had a nice quiet day at sea. During the evening and last evening as well, we had spectacular thunder and lightning shows over the rainforest in Costa Rica. The last few days have been very warm and all that energy that steams up from the forest below unloads during the night when it comes in contact with cooler air. Being quite far away from the shore, we do not hear much of the noise but we do see the “short circuits” between the clouds. Not only in lightning beams, but in whole clouds lighting up due to the igniting energy. Tomorrow we will be at sea again until we arrive around 1800 hrs. in Fuerte Amador. The weather looks a bit unsettled at the moment. Chance of rain, so maybe a rain shower near the Continental Divide; so we have to hope for the best.