The Punta Gorda River (Rio Punta Gorda) is a river in eastern

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

. It originates in the Caribbean highland and flows east to enter the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

at Punta Gorda. Part of the river's drainage area is the protected

Punta Gorda Natural Reserve Punta Gorda Natural Reserve is a nature reserve in Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the ...

. The upper river valley is scheduled to be dammed to create the Atlanta reservoir for the

Nicaraguan Canal and Development Project The Nicaraguan Canal ( es, Canal de Nicaragua), formally the Nicaraguan Canal and Development Project (also referred to as the Nicaragua Grand Canal, or the Grand Interoceanic Canal) was a proposed shipping route through Nicaragua to connect th ...

, the

Nicaraguan Canal The Nicaraguan Canal ( es, Canal de Nicaragua), formally the Nicaraguan Canal and Development Project (also referred to as the Nicaragua Grand Canal, or the Grand Interoceanic Canal) was a proposed shipping route through Nicaragua to connect th ...

to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The canal will be built in the Punta Gorda valley.

Hurricane Felix Hurricane Felix was an extremely powerful Category 5 Atlantic hurricane which was the southernmost-landfalling Category 5 storm on record, surpassing Hurricane Edith of 1971. It was the sixth named storm, second hurricane, and second Categor ...

made landfall at Punta Gorda in 2007.

Popular Culture

* W. Douglas Burden describes Punta Gorda in his book, ''Look to the Wilderness''.

References

Rivers of Nicaragua {{Nicaragua-river-stub