Cartagena: Enjoying the Caribbean Sea

After another super-delicious breakfast (eggs, cereal, divinely tasting fruit, and freshly squeezed juice) we embarked on an adventure to the Islas del Rosario, a protected archipelago in the Caribbean Sea about 45-minute boat ride from Cartagena. During the short tour, the boat took us around the various islands ranging from tiny to large. Most of the islands are private, with huge summer villas and hotels located on the larger ones. On a few, there are villages where the resort staff live. Our island, called la Isla del Encanto, was a medium-size island with a beach and some cabañas with hammocks as well as a cafeteria and a bar.

While some of our fellow travelers chose to sunbathe and swim, a group of us decided to go snorkeling to see the coral reefs. That was one of the best experiences of my travels!!! Even though most of the corals were dead (unfortunately, due to rising temperature in the Caribbean), there were many varieties of multi-colored fish representing all colors of the rainbow, sometimes found in the same fish species. My favorite were the bright-blue small fish with pink, yellow, and black polka-dots. I also managed to see a small jelly fish and got scratched a bit on the corals. Lunch was an enormous serving of delicious Caribbean fish and rice cooked in the coco milk with fresh and supertasty fruit for dessert.

Upon getting back to the hotel and washing off the salt, the heat finally started to get to me so we decided to have a fancier dinner at one of the few airconditioned places (by the way, I didn’t stop sweating from the moment of arrival). Again, taking advantage of being on the coast, we had gourmet fish served with a delicious side of steamed vegetables and yummy bread.