Isla Mucura (San Bernardo Archipelago)

My trip to the island to the small, hidden Caribbean island of Isla Mucura was associated with a few obstacles. But the journey is the destination, after all:-) From Minca, I traveled back to Cartagena via Santa Marta, from where you could reach the island by boat. After some research about the island, I found out that the boat only goes there once a day, always in the morning at 9 o'clock. And there is only one boat there as well. I had already booked my accommodation there: 3 nights (two of them in a dorm and one night in a hammock, as the rest was fully booked). Therefore, I had to spend a night in the hostel in Cartagena, or rather it became two nights because I didn't get a spot on the boat and had to stay one night longer in Cartagena. Then only two nights on Isla Mucura. I also had to repack my luggage because each passenger is only allowed to take a maximum of 8 kg of luggage. And withdraw enough cash. Because there are no ATMs on the island. For the second time at the harbor, at 8 o'clock in the morning, I already knew exactly where to go: Gate 5, in the second line with the woman with curly hair. Luckily, my name was on her tablet this time. Phew, lucky me! Then I had to queue in the other line and pay the tax for the national park - 17,000 pesos. Then I was finally allowed through the turnstile. Now I had to buy the ticket from Tranq it easy. I could even pay with a credit card. For 200,000 pesos round trip (~60€). Then it's time to wait again...the 2-hour boat ride is supposed to start at 9 o'clock...you don't really have a sense of time in South America. 5 minutes equals at least half an hour, a 4-hour journey takes about 6 hours, so I suspect that the journey will start between 9:30 and 10...and that's exactly what happened. We started then with the small boat that could accommodate about 25 people. The ride was quite bumpy and I was relieved when we finally arrived around 12 o'clock. Before that, we stopped at Casa en el agua, a house, hostel that stood right in the water.

Upon arrival, we were picked up by a hostel staff member and led through a path in the mangrove forest to the hostel complex. It was super big and beautiful. With palm trees, hammocks, a cocktail bar, and a small beach. There were two potbelly pigs and two white peacocks roaming around the complex. Here too, you could hear lots of birds chirping. Thanks to my bird-watching tour in Minca, I now knew all of them (NOT).

During a snorkeling tour, I saw some pretty fish again, although the coral reef there was rather small and there are certainly better places for snorkeling. But it was still nice. Otherwise, there wasn't much to do on the island. There was only one path to the harbor, which led to another beach. On the island, there are maybe three or four hotels and that's about it. After two nights (I could stay in the dorm and didn't have to sleep in the hammock), I headed back to Cartagena. The return journey was a bit exhausting because the sea was a bit rough, so water splashed in my face the entire time and when we arrived, me, my clothes, and unfortunately also my things were quite wet.