She was originally lateen sail rigged caravela latina, but she was re-rigged as caravela redonda at Azores with square sails for better ocean performance. The other ships of the Columbus expedition were the caravel-type Pinta and the carrack-type Santa Maria. However, she was commonly referred to by her nickname, La Nina, which was probably a pun on the name of her owner, Juan Nino of Moguer. As was tradition for Spanish ships of the day, she bore a female saint's name, Santa Clara.

La Nina (Spanish for The Girl) was one of the three Spanish ships used by Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in his first voyage to the West Indies in 1492. Pinta is available for private parties and charters. She is a larger version of the archetypal caravel and offers larger deck space for walk-aboard tours and has a 40 ft air conditioned main cabin down below with seating. Pinta was recently built in Brazil to accompany the Nina on all of her travels. We are a floating museum, and we visit ports all over the Western Hemisphere. That ship was last heard of in 1501, but the new Nina has a different mission. Columbus sailed the tiny ship over 25,000 miles.

The Nina and Pinta Historically Accurate Columbus Replica Ship The Nina is a replica of the ship on which Columbus sailed across the Atlantic on his three voyages of discovery to the new world beginning in 1492.