The small city of Bluefields, Nicaragua, sits on a bay - called of all things - Bluefields Bay. Lots of stuff important to the commercial life of Bluefields takes place along or in that body of water. One important place is the main wharf where almost everything that came into Bluefields arrived...until the new road opened just a couple of years ago.
Need a new car? Need an order of tiles for your hardware store? Need the latest fashions for your clothing outlet? For us, more than a decade ago, our pontoon boat kit from South Carolina, arrived at the city's main wharf. All of this stuff came to the wharf pictured below.
Granted, some of the stuff came on a bus or a boat by way of the El Rama Port. Actually most stuff that went through the port at Rama involved both bus and boat. Some small stuff came by air. But fewer and fewer goods travel these ways now that there is a roadway connecting Bluefields to Managua.
But even so, the main wharf is still very busy. It accomodates large boats and barges and deals primarily with things that don't come from Managua.
And attached to the main wharf is the water taxi terminal that carries people by panga to small communities which can't easily be reached by car or bus.