Cartagena, Colombia Day 2

Today, I was torn between seeing more of Cartagena and another opportunity to snorkel and I chose the later. None of the other organized tours were appealing, (apiary tour and coffee tour) and it was up to 33 and 90% humidity today again and I just couldn’t convince myself to give up being in the water.

We had an early start, which I did grumble about to the Destination Manager, but it was kind of nice to be out early and back early to relax the rest of the day.

Our speed boat picked us up at a small dock right beside the pier where the Star Pride is docked and in no time we were on our way, double time, out of the harbour ready for adventure. The views of Cartagena as we were leaving the harbour were spectacular. In my mind’s eye when thinking about Cartagena, the historic part of the city was all that I saw. So when I woke up and looked out my window on the first morning I was surprised to see the modern city that I could see from my cabin window. And as I’ve seen more, I’m more surprised by how many modern high rises there are around Cartagena Bay.

Back to today’s adventure, the dive master on this trip was the best we’ve had along the way. He explained things really well, was helpful to those that needed it with their equipment, ran a tight ship and we all had a great time as a result.

On our 30 minute trip to our snorkel site, the he spoke about some of the history and about the forts, on which building started in 1646, and completed in 1759 that protected the harbour. The narrow entrance between the two forts was the only access to the harbour for military ships or pirates since the other channels were too shallow. The forts were built at different heights relative to the water so that the cannon fire would penetrate the ships at various heights and the crossfire was deadly to the incoming foe. The fort on the starboard side, was burned to the ground and was rebuilt more substantially the second go around.

We carried on to Baru Island just offshore, and around the far side of it to a bay in the Bernardo Corals National Natural Park. It took quite some time for everyone to get geared up and into the water, but once in we were guided into more shallow water along the reef to see what we could see. There were many types of coral that I hadn’t seen before as well as some great species of some familiar ones, such as Brain Coral which seem to be quite hardy. And there were lots of little fish, and some larger ones to see in the valleys of the coral and around the larger pieces. We were in the water for 30 minutes or so, and then a few carried on to see more while some had had enough and climbed back on board. Guess which group I was in?

The captain then moved the boat into a very calm bay and served up plantain chips, bananas, and sandwiches. Some people hopped back into the warm sea and had a swim in the very buoyant salt water. When everyone had had enough of the water, we headed back into port.

We had an early departure from Cartagena today as we’re headed all the across the Panamanian Isthmus (205 nautical miles) to a remote island group (San Blas Islands) for our beach day tomorrow. Yay beach day! The Norwegian Cruise Line ship that came in to port as we were headed out snorkelling this morning left just before our pilot came aboard to assist us out of the harbour. On our way out we came close enough to a statue in the harbour, the Virgin Mary and Child, to get this not too clear picture. It’s a relatively calm day today, so should be clear sailing.