Corales Islas del Rosario

After being on the go for several weeks nonstop I decided that I need some chill time and decided to do this in Rosario National Park, near Cartagena. I also didn’t want to worry about much, so I booked it as a bit of a package tour.

The pickup was an hour late- always a good start. There was literally a bus load of people. Our first stop was Playa Blanca- not part of the park but a very popular spot for holiday makers and weekenders. To be quiet honest, I am not sure why?? The whole beach is packed with what can be most accurately described as shacks- all pretty rackety construction. There is no running water or electricity and there is also lots of rubbish everywhere. Clearly the infrastructure cannot keep up with the influx of people. You need to pay for absolutely everything- chair hire, or cabanas if you want to part with a lot of money. There are again LOADS of people trying to sell you food to jewellery to clothes. Luckily most of the people are al on a day trip and they disappear at 3-4pm every day, and everything quietens down considerably!

Now, I didn’t go into this without knowledge of the situation- I only stopped here to do a night trip to swim with the phytoplankton that is in a nearby lagoon. There was just another couple and myself, that were staying at the same accommodation that went on a small boat. It’s not like the water glows all the time, it only lets off a glow from the phytoplankton when you jump in or move your arms and legs around. It appears as if you have an aura while you move around – and floating is pretty easy as the water is salty. There was a half moon, so the light variance was not as intense as if there was less light, but was still OK.

The next morning, I was off to Isla Grande- though arranging a boat was a real pain. I think more the distrust of the people organising it. I had to pay 35,000 after being told it was 25,000 pesos by the agency. Then the guy who organised it said it was that expensive because the trip was about 50minutes- which I knew to be bullshit as one of the locals had said it was 20-30minutes the day before.

I got to my accommodation and went for a walk to explore the island a little and find a beach to swim and cool down a little- though the water is really warm, so you don’t technically cool down. There are several beaches around the eastern part of the island- where I was based. I noted that there was also a lot of rubbish here on the island, so much for a national park!

I was glad that it was during the week and low season, so there were few people around.

The next day I went snorkelling -which was good- there is a wide variety of fish, about 100m off the beach. We went out by boat- heaven knows why as you could just swim out there! The fish species were similar to Galapagos, with some different ones I have not seen before. The reef, on the other hand is dead or dying, which is of course a shame. The great thing was that I had the reef to myself for the first hour, with another group arriving later but being pretty far away.

I was hoping that I could get back to Cartagena in the late morning, but it turned out that the information that there are frequent boats was a myth. 3pm was the only boat. Again I had to pay for the trip, but the payment was to the owners of my accommodation, not the boat captain…so I’m sure they skim off some off that too!

In the end the relaxing was good, but I was left with a strong feeling of being ripped off- and just peeved off with that! I don’t think it has been that bad before.

I do not have photos as I took a break from that too 🙂