One of the primary purposes of this project was to connect the railroad system of Nicaragua with the international system to the northward by means of a ferry line to La Union.

Tides. The high water interval at full and change at the entrance to Estero Real is 2h. 37m.; springs rise 11 feet.

Directions.-The channel to the estero proper begins 7 miles southeastward of Monypenny Point, being here about 1 mile wide and the distance from mid-channel to the southern shore 114 miles. From Monypenny Anchorage, starting from a position 42 miles 106° from Monypenny Point, steer 147° for the entrance to Estero Real. Because of the lack of marks and natural ranges the chart and lead are the best guides for proceeding into and up the river.

CHAPTER VIII

THE COASTS OF NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA

THE COAST OF NICARAGUA maintains a general southeasterly direction from the Gulf of Fonseca to the eastern boundary at the head of Salinas Bay, a distance of 160 miles. The volcanic peaks and mountain ranges near the sea are so distinctive in outline or surroundings that they are easily recognizable from vessels approaching the coast in clear weather; and as they occasionally become visible during the rainy season when observations may not have been obtained, the advantage of being able to distinguish them can well be understood.

Volcano Viejo, 5,670 feet high, 42 miles east-southeastward of Coseguina Point and 161⁄2 miles inland, is, next to Ometepe, the highest mountain in Nicaragua; it stands directly behind Corinto, which is the most important seaport. The summit is very sharp and appears as though it were cut off at an angle. On the western side two small peaks rise near the base, while on the other side a high ridge shoots out for 2 or 3 miles and then sinks down to the foothills. Viejo is really the first of the Marabios Range, which extends nearly east-southeastward and terminates in Volcano Momotombo, on the shore of Lake of Managua. The Volcanoes Telica, San Jacinto, Rota, Las Pilas, and Assoco are also included in this range; but as Viejo and Momotombo are higher than any between them, they alone are especially valuable as landmarks.

Momotombo (12°24′ N., 86°34′ W., H. O. Chart 931), an active volcano, 3,910 feet high, is cone-shaped and so regular in outline that it resembles a pyramid, and therefore can not be mistaken for the lower and more rugged peaks to the left, especially as it terminates on the east of the chain of mountains. When viewed from the sea at some distance southward of Corinto, Momotombo appears as an immense isolated mountain, but when seen from Isla Cardon it appears to be joined to Assoco, a volcano of less height, the two mountains then showing as perfect cones.

Las Pilas has two rounded summits of almost equal height, presenting a saddle-shaped appearance; it is not sufficiently lofty to be seen from the offing.

Telica is the most remarkable of the mountains between Las Pilas and Viejo; it is a cone of extremely regular outline, which appears

to be connected with Viejo, of which it has about half the altitude, but from which is in reality separated by a wide interval containing the mountain Santa Clara.

Cerros de Managua, a long rounded ridge with a maximum elevation of 3,030 feet and showing a regular curved outline for nearly 15 miles, is 29 miles south-southeastward of Momotombo and parallel with the coast.

Volcano Mombacho, 4,305 feet high, rising from the shore of Lake of Nicaragua, is very irregular in outline and shows two peaks when seen from the westward, over the Cerros de Managua, and three when seen from the southward. The eastern summit, which is the highest, is remarkably sharp.

Volcano Ometepe, 5,680 feet high, lies in Lake of Nicaragua at a position 27 miles southeastward of Mombacho and 23 miles from the coast; this active volcano, which is often concealed by dense smoke, shows over the high land between the lake and the Pacific as a perfect frustum of a cone. The little port of San Juan del Sur is directly in front of it on the coast.

Madera, about 8 miles southeastward of Ometepe, is a saddleshaped mountain; the eastern and higher summit has an altitude of 4,681 feet.

Vessels making the land off Ometepe and Madera will have the mountains of Costa Rica in sight to the eastward.

Coast. From Coseguina Point the shore for the first 6 miles, sloping gradually from the base of the Volcano Coseguina, breaks squarely off into the sea and forms an almost perpendicular line of cliffs 200 feet in height. The hills here recede from the shore, and at 9 miles from the end of the bluffs there is a lagoon or a river mouth; there is an island across this entrance, and shoal ground on which the sea often breaks extends out about 1/2 mile from it. A 234-fathom shoal lies 612 miles southeastward of Coseguina Point and 12 miles offshore; an obstruction was reported in 1927 to lie 2 miles southward of this shoal.

Mesa de Roland, 19 miles from Coseguina Point and 4 miles inland, is a flat-topped hill 1,000 feet high, which from the southward appears to rise on each side abruptly and near the top perpendicularly; behind it are hills of greater elevation, and therefore from directly seaward it is visible only a short distance.

Speck Reef (12°41′ N., 87°27′ W., H. O. Chart 931), lying about 20 miles southeastward of Coseguina Point and consisting of shoal patches with deep water about them, extends 3 miles along the beach and makes out 1/4 miles. At the western end, 1 mile offshore, there are several rocks awash. At 1 mile westward of these rocks there is a 3-fathom shoal, 11⁄2 mile across, with 6 and 7 fathoms around it;

from it the Mesa de Roland bears about 36°. The outer reef is extremely dangerous, as it does not break at half tide even with a heavy swell, although the sea breaks furiously on the inner reef at that time. Burra Grande Reef, 254 miles from Coseguina Point and 14 miles from Morro Cardon Lighthouse, is 1 mile in length, parallel with the coast, and 1/4 mile in width, with a depth of about 12 fathoms, but with rocks nearly awash. The outer edge is 112 miles from the shore, with soundings of 5 to 8 fathoms close to it. Inside the reef there is a narrow channel with 5 and 6 fathoms, but, as there are other shoals on the inshore side, the passage should never be attempted; one of these shoals, called Padre Ramos, with less than 2 fathoms over it, bears 95° from the southern end of Burra Grande, and its outer end is 1,500 yards from the shore.

Isla de Limon, lying at the mouth of a small river, 27 miles from Coseguina Point, is low, flat, covered with trees, and encircled by a whitish colored gravel beach. The islet is only 16 feet high, but the trees upon it render it visible at a distance of 8 miles; it is connected with Isla Punta Icaco (Asarradores) by a submerged rocky bank upon which the sea almost always breaks, and over which there is so little depth that it completely closes the channel between the two islands.

It is said that a number of vessels have been lost on Burra Grande Reef, or among the shoals close to Isla de Limon, by mistaking the latter for Isla Cardon, in front of Corinto. The lighthouse on Isla Cardon and the fact that Limon is densely wooded while Cardon is comparatively bare, should serve adequately to distinguish these islands.

Coast. From Isla de Limon the coast of Isla Punta Icaco, which is low and wooded, with a sandy beach, trends southeastward. A sailing vessel should not approach this coast too closely, because if the wind should fall light the current and swell would soon set the vessel onto the shore; a safe distance is 5 miles, in not less than 10 fathoms of water. During the winter, when the wind sometimes blows from a direction between south and southwest, with rainy weather, there is also danger in remaining at anchor off it, as the sea runs very high.

CORINTO HARBOR (12°28′ N., 87°11′ W., H. O. Chart 2604) is formed by the junction of the Rio Realejo and the Estero Doña Paula and extends around the southeastern end of Isla Punta Icaco, between it and the mainland on the eastward and southward and Isla Cardon on the southwestward. Isla Punta Icaco is separated from the mainland by Estero Caballo, a small creek, and therefore does not appear as an island.

The navigable section of the harbor has depths ranging from 3 to 91⁄2 fathoms, and an average width of about 1/4 mile within the 3fathom curves. The harbor has two entrance channels, Cardon Channel leading northward of Isla Cardon and False Bar Channel leading southward of that island; False Bar Channel, however, is not recommended.

The greatest draft that has been taken into the harbor is 27 feet, that of the S. S. Winnipeg, which entered in March 1933. It is reported that the maximum dimensions of vessels that can enter the harbor are as follows: Draft, 28 feet; length, 500 feet; and beam, 80 feet.

The landmarks for making the port in clear weather are the Volcanoes Coseguina, Viejo, and Momotombo; in clear moonlight these volcanoes have been seen 47 miles at sea. All the peaks between Piejo and Momotombo are visible from the offing; as the port is neared Assoco will come nearly in range with Momotombo and become, like it, conical in appearance. Behind the low coast that stretches for a considerable distance on each side of Corinto there is an extensive plain which rises gradually toward the interior.

There is a two-story house with a red tile gable roof on Monte Doña Paulo, on the northeast side of Castañones Peninsula. This house constitutes a conspicuous mark in the daytime when entering the harbor off Morro Cardon. This house has been reported to be practically obscured by trees.

Isla Cardon is 1,500 yards long in a northwest and southeast direction, of a reddish-brown color in the dry season, but green during the rainy season, almost bare of trees, about 35 feet high, and nearly level. The northwestern end is faced with perpendicular rocks, and just outside of Punta Ponente is a rock resembling a tower. Rocky patches and shoal water extend 300 yards off the northwestern end.

A small pier with a T-head along which there is a depth of 7 feet extends out from the eastern side of the island at a position about 125 yards southeastward of Morro Cardon Light. A building with a red roof is situated close southward of the root of this pier.

Morro Cardon Light is shown from a white circular concrete tower, 43 feet high, on Morro Cardon, the northeastern extremity of Isla Cardon. (See Light List.)

Cardon Channel, leading into the harbor around the northern end of Isla Cardon is the only one now in general use. It is only about 200 yards wide in its narrowest part.

Depths. The least depth on the bar northwestward of Isla Cardon, and along the recommended track, is 24 feet at low water. In Cardon Channel the water is deep, the depths in the fairway within