Drifting 9nm off the Coast of Nicaragua - 3./4.12.2012 (eng)

Andromeda
Michael
Tue 4 Dec 2012 15:46
12:04.422N 86:54.454W
Drifting 9nm off the Coast of Nicaragua
3./4. December 2012

We had spent two nights in front of a little surfers camp north of the Marina Puesta del Sol in nice clear water.
On the 3rd we set sail with a great land breeze (up to 22kn wind, and Andromeda was doing up to 9kn!) - for about 90min.
The the wind suddenly shiftet, and we continued with a sea breeze and three sails up. Lovely smooth sail!
In the evening, the wind died again and we let us drift about 9nm off the shore, direction South East. Well, the current actually through us back few miles North West.
Felt a bit awkward, out in the ocean, but still land in sight... However, there's no ship traffic so close to shore and absolutely no chance to bump into anything. If it hadn't been for the choppy waves, it would have been a rather relaxed night.
At 6 this morning, the wind came back (for only 3 hours) and we caught a little tuna. Unfortunately, the kind that is not the tastiest, so we released it again.
I just happened to look outside, when we almost hit a turtle! Maybe it was still sleepy. We only missed it by 2 feet when it slowly started to paddle away.
We just had to turn on the engines, but hopefully, some wind will come back again, soon.
We might stop at San Juan del Sur for a few days (about 60nm SE), if the wind is favourable.

P.S.:
09:25 Wind's up again! with 20kn winds on a close reach doing 7-8 knots! And caught another tuna. Unfortunately again the not so tasty type and let it go.

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