Moored at Palos lies a life-size replica of Columbus' first fleet: the Niña, the Santa María, and the Pinta. It is from Palos that Columbus departed on his first expedition, the 3rd of August, 1492.
The Niña, foreground, sailed three times to America under Columbus, making over 25,000 nautical miles. In between the second and third expeditions, it was kidnapped by Moor pirates and was only saved because of the daring prison break and escape of part of the crew.
Niña has about the same nominal dimensions as Peregrinus, except the latter is pointy, and so from its bow it takes more than half its length to get to its broadest point, from where it tapers sharply, whereas Niña gets fat not far from the bow and carries much of its full width nearly to its stern. This helps explain how Niña had a crew of 24 under Columbus whereas Peregrinus is only rated for eight.
At one point, we were questioned by the lady at the admittance how had we arrived. It is not our custom to speak of Peregrinus, but she asked if we were driving –no. Arrived by taxi, then? –no. By bus? –no. Well, how?, she insisted. When we explained that we had come to Palos by Zodiac from the mouth of the Odiel river, then up the Río Tinto and had finally climbed the iron Muelle de la Reina, the lady was a bit floored, but she walked out of her booth and, like everyone we met at Palos, was most welcoming and helpful.
Palos de la Frontera (of the frontier to the New World, not to the frontier to Portugal, which is some distance away). 3:07 pm 17 November 2015. iPhone 6 Plus.