As we left Cartagena, we were looking forward to again find some anchorages where we could go swimming in beautiful waters. Lifting the anchor in Cartagena harbor was a reminder that while big city anchorages can be fun, they also take a big toll on your boat.
Our bridle hook had grown fur while we were there, and the anchor chain was full of yucky, gooey mud-like dirt, which made a mess on our deck. The heavy rains we experienced in Cartagena contained sooth. So, it did not actually clean things, but rather resulted in black streaks all over the place. What used to be a newly polished sparkling clean boat, is no more… 🥲
Islas del Rosario
We set sail and had a target we had heard much about this past week, as most of the party boats from Cartagena go there. Islas del Rosario is located 22nm from Cartagena, and consist of several small islands, most of them populated by a few private mansions and hostels.
We anchored off Isla Marina, where we found a quiet and lovely bay with no swell. Due to the amount of downpour lately, the water was not as clear as normal, but definitely good enough for us, after two weeks of no swimming.
Together with our buddy boat, SY Ikaria, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and a quiet evening, as the party boats had already left to head back to Cartagena before we arrived.
The following day, the admiral woke up waaay early, and enjoyed the sunrise and start of a new day together with the couple of inhabitants in the bay. It was soooo quiet and pristine, birds were chirping, fishermen got ready to leave and hunt today’s catch, and sailing life was back to its best, yet again 💙
The following day, we took a dinghy ride to explore the island. Pablo Escobar used to have a huge mansion on the neighboring island, and rumor has it that one of his planes went down just off the coast, and can be seen if you snorkel just six meters below the surface.
The mansion has more than 300 rooms, and was humongous! We unfortunately did not have a camera with us for the ride, so no pictures.
The visibility was still not great, so we had some issues locating the plane. After a couple of locals pointed the area it was in, we were able to find it. It was a fairly small propeller plane, which definitely could have served the purpose of smuggling drugs.
After the visiting party boats left, we enjoyed yet another quiet night at this wonderful anchorage, before we headed off towards our next island destination, Islas de San Bernardo.
Islas de San Bernardo
Islas de San Bernardo is an archipelago located 23nm from Islas del Rosario, most of them populated by hotels, hostels and a few private villas.
Part of this group of islands is Santa Cruz del Islote, which is the most densely populated island in the world. A total of 816 inhabitants share 1,200 square meters in 250 houses. The contrast of the neighboring islands with its vast lots with hotels and villas was tremendous.
Unfortunately, the city has issues due to the rising sea level, and as of now, the government has no plans as to how they will help the people living there. They try their best to build more protection against the sea, but it is probably a lost cause, unfortunately.
We passed a very windy night at the anchorage, and did a tour of the island by dinghy the following day to consider changing our anchorage. We found a very quiet anchorage inside a mangrove bay, but decided we would take wind over mosquitoes any day 😅
We stopped by our guide from yesterday’s tour, and was served a lovely lunch with some freshly caught fish.
A quiet last night at the anchorage, with less wind, before we got up early to make a 23nm sail to our next destination, Isla Fuerte.
Isla Fuerte
Isla Fuerte is an island with a small village with a couple of hundred locals, and several hotels spread around the coast. It seemed less developed as a tourist site than our past two stops.
We got a true sense of island living as we walked around the better part of the island. Unfortunately, there was quite a lot of trash spread everywhere, which made you think about the paradise this could have been.
We understand it is hard to uphold a good waste management system on these small islands. However, several islands we have visited have been capable to take much better care of their surroundings and keep it as good as trash free. Here, this desire seemed totally abandoned, and people did not seem to care. What a pity.
We visited the couple of tourists sites the island has to offer. One giant tree, named La Bonga, and one tree that looks like it is walking (Arbol que Camina), as the roots are formed from the branches. Both of them had such nice and cool temperatures beneath them, due to the tree’s evaporation and transpiration. No wonder some of the locals hung out there.
The last tourist site on the island was a small cave, Cueva de Morgan. It was only 1.4m high, so we just took a glance from the opening.
We had an amazing animal encounter at this island, a sloth 🦥 They are normally very shy and can therefore be quite hard to find, but this one was sitting right by the path!
We left Isla Fuerte after spending two nights at the anchorage, and did a night sail across the Bay of Uraba towards the border between Colombia and Panama.
We caught a 7kg Jack Trevalley fish on the sail. The first fish of season 2 sailing 🥳 Good times!
Sapzurro village
Our last stop in Colombia was the tiny border town of Sapzurro, which is a fishing village, but also sees plenty of tourists, mainly coming in from Medellin.
The neighboring larger town of Capurgana can be reached by a hike over the jungle clad hills surrounding the bay of Sapzurro. And the Panamanian town of La Miel is a very short hike, with a border control on the way. We unfortunately didn’t get to do any of the hikes, as we experienced quite a lot of rain and thunderstorms while we were there.
We spent some time at this anchorage doing some boat fixes and preparing our next sailing distance along the Panama coast and into the San Blas islands.
We leave Colombia feeling so incredibly fortunate about all of the experiences we have had in this immensely diverse country. It has a lot to offer, even to the most avid traveler, and we recommend a visit with all our heart.
We are sure we will return one day, as we still have lots of unexplored territory! 🇨🇴
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Our other travel letters from Colombia include:
Cartagena- historic party city
Jungle trekking in search of the Lost City