Ferry to the drift

Quite the adventure!

The vehicles on the ferry were pretty well destroyed. The truck loaded with plantains rocked side to side and in the process crushed the minibus, the small truck and 2 motorcycles.

In typical Nicaragua fashion the passengers seated on the middle deck were screaming, praying and talking on cell phones. (All at the same time). The most heard comment was: "We are all going to die!".

Sam and I went the previous day to Ometepe with some clients to show property. The 4 pm ferry was canceled and we had to spend the night on the island. The 6 am ferry decide to make the run even the winds were stronger than during the afternoon when the crossing was canceled. None of the passengers thought there would be any danger since everyone assumed the captain knew what he was doing.

Stop laughing everyone! I know I should have known better after all these years here....

Half way across the lake the waves got higher and when the waves were moving faster than the ferry and were washing over the stern on their way past the ferry, I knew that this was going to get interesting. Everyone was holding on to any handhold they could find. I had braced myself against the railing with one hand and was hanging on to my computer bag with the other. As the ferry started to turn for the docking I got soaked by a wave washing over the ferry. Time to move inside, I thought.

I'm glad I did. I would not have wanted to miss the mayhem in the cabin for anything. Children screaming, people praying, a group of Jewish tourists from New York shouting "Oy Weh". Almost everyone struggling to put on life jackets and a young lady screaming into my face repeatedly: "We are all going to die!".

The ferry hit the break wall several times but after a while it appeared as if the captain finally had the ship facing the right direction and we were just a short distance from the dock. That's when it got interesting.

Somehow one of the thick ropes used to tie up the ship to the dock got wrapped around the propeller and the engines stopped. The wild ride started all over again. This time without anyone having control over the ferry. The vessel drifted once again toward the entrance of the harbor. This time the waves were rocking the ship more than ever. I could see people in the water, hanging on to backpacks that miraculously floated. Every so often the waves washed over them and their heads disappeared under water. They made it to shore and were on solid ground sometime before the rest of us passengers.

The dock crew managed to get some lines tied from the ship to the dock and slowly inched the ferry toward the dock. Once the bow of the ship was near the dock, everyone was taken off by sliding down some gang planks onto solid ground.

Throughout this whole episode my friend Sam Bauer was way more concerned that this may "blow the deal" as he put it. It seems that Sam and I were the ones on board least concerned about this fiasco. Both of us know how to swim and both of us know that the harbor isn't all that deep. Last time the ferry sank under similar circumstances all one had to do was get onto the upper deck in order to stay dry.

To the best of my knowledge everyone got off the ferry safely.

There you have it folks: Just another dull day in Nicaragua!