17.-22.06. - Santa marta colombia

On 06/17 we took the bus from Cartagena to Santa Marta. The drive took 5-6 hours and we stopped more than we drove. But there was always enough to eat and drink on the bus (from street vendors). On the way to Santa Marta I had about 5 chats with different Santa Marta dive schools on my phone to find the cheapest / best one for my "Advanced Open Water Diver" course.

The course was scheduled for the next day. I got a private course, so to speak, because all the other participants canceled spontaneously. On the boat were: Captain Karen, diving center leader Andrés and diving instructor Daniel. The head of the diving school was pretty badass, he treated his employees like the worst and he wasn't the friendliest in other respects either. A total of five dives were on the program over two days. The first went down to 40 m. All the others were in the 10-25 m range and I had to do various exercises. The last dive was also at night, which was also absolutely amazing. Carolin and Hans also went diving on the second day, for Hans the first time and for Caro two more exciting dives. The wildlife here was even more impressive than that in Jamaica. We saw moray eels, lobsters, puffer fish, stone fish, zebra fish, lion fish, sea cucumbers, a type of spider crab, box fish, parrot fish and many other types of colorful fish.

On June 20th we had a day at the beach. We actually wanted to do something else (kayak or stand-up paddling or windsurfing), but none of that worked out. Either they wanted to rip us off, or the conditions were too bad, or, or, or... But sitting on the beach, drinking a beer and playing cards isn't too bad either.

On June 21st Hans organized us a private taxi driver (for about 22€ all day) who drove us to Minca, about 1.5 hours away. Minca is an old village near Santa Marta, there are many waterfalls and other "baths" to visit. Since we had a kind of "private guide" (our taxi driver went with us to the waterfalls), we also came to places that "normal tourists" don't necessarily get to. In the evening we let Hans' last day end in a bar.

From Hans' odyssey at the airport on 22.06. I'll report then if necessary in the next post :-)