Isla Grande - Rosario

Isla Rosario

We walked from the port of Cartagena and somehow knew that we had to go to the 'Paraiso Secreto' area on one of the many islands of the Rosario Islands. We had no idea how, we just went. On the way, someone approached me with a little book in hand and asked if we needed to go on a boat, I explained where to go and she said yes, that's fine, come along. So we followed her. We paid at the entrance and then they wrote down our names somewhere, it all happened very quickly. She said something and disappeared. We were in a crowded port with about 200-300 others who wanted to go to the islands. We had no idea which boat to take, about 20 of them were waiting. For a brief moment, we had the feeling that we ended up in the black market and they took our money. Eventually, we managed to get on board. Some people ran around with a list and called out names.

The boats only operate between 9:00 and 10:00, so we had to make it work somehow. Someone called Ernesto Paudnakka Y Muriel. Well, they couldn't pronounce Baumann, but we actually managed to get on and within a few minutes, we were on our way to Isla Grande with a speedboat. And it was a speedboat indeed. We were speeding over the waves and even flew for a few meters at one point. We went further into the open sea and the water became more turquoise and clearer. Then we arrived at a large tourist island and let some people off. The beach was crowded with beach chairs and people. Despite that, the sea was beautiful and we could see far away.

Then we continued and arrived at our small island. We landed on a small beach and got off the boat. It was a hostel with 7 identical 'family houses'.

With lots of dogs

We paid 20 francs per night and had our own private beach. It was really cool. There was also a pool in the middle with a slide and a bar where we got half-decent food.

Yes, the capital of this island is a village with about 30 tin/concrete huts, most of them without electricity. As a result, the food was expensive and there were only a few restaurants. If we had known that, we would have eaten before leaving Cartagena.

We bought groceries and cooked cheap but good food. Oh, and of course, we didn't have enough cash with us, we didn't even think about withdrawing money. Of course, there was no ATM.

When we arrived at the hostel, we were welcomed by Dayana. A 24-year-old, lively, and friendly lady from Medellin who works there for 6 months. We asked her where we could eat and she said, 'Well, it's a bit late, I can cook for you, you can eat with me!' So we went to the beach for lunch, about a 45-minute walk. We took Negro, the black Labrador from the hostel, with us.

When we arrived at the village, Negro suddenly ran off like a rocket. He chased after 4 pigs. I shouted loudly 'Neeeegroo nooo noo'! Well, it was a bit stupid because 80% of the people working on this island are dark-skinned and a few of them gave me a strange look.

I also thought it was stupid to give the dog that name. Anyway, we found him again at the beach and it was a dream.

The dog also liked it there.

Little boats kept coming and they had fresh lobsters. They weighed them and sold them to people for about 10-20 francs. I also bought one and 30 minutes later, I had a good lobster with rice and salad. In the evening, we returned and watched the sunset from the pier with Dayana.

Then we went to the kitchen and started cooking. It turned out really well and we decided to cook the next day as well.

It was quite funny.

The next day, we actually did the same program again because it was just so beautiful. I took Dayana's snorkeling mask and wanted to go snorkeling. Well, as soon as I started, I stepped on a big sea urchin with my flip-flop and it started bleeding. It didn't hurt too bad, but it wouldn't be good to get saltwater and sand in it later. So I jumped into the sea and we just enjoyed ourselves.

In the evening, they organized an outdoor movie and we watched a film under the starry sky with the warm Caribbean breeze.

The next day, we tried snorkeling again. It was a bit painful with the thick sea urchin in my fin, but I managed. It was pretty cool, although we couldn't go far because the boats were driving through quite fast. And we couldn't go further due to the current. Well, in Brazil, we saw the larger reef, but it was still cool.

Especially so much warmer. The water was at least 23 degrees or more. Around noon, we returned and had something to eat.

We had reserved a kayak from 16:00. There are many lagoons on the island, all full of mangroves with lots of roots or branches that stick out of the water.

We carried the two kayaks to the pier and put them in the water. The guy from the rental place explained to us where we should go for each lagoon and how to find the next one through the narrow connecting 'tunnels'. But as soon as we started paddling, we forgot everything. We got pretty fast when we paddled in the right rhythm. Then we drove through the first opening in the mangrove tunnel, it was a great atmosphere.

The last rays of sunlight shone through the trees. It wasn't easy to paddle through the sometimes very narrow channel. We paddled through a total of 3 lagoons and at the end, we went through an opening to the open sea. The sun was already lower on the horizon. We paddled towards the sea and let the current carry us. The water was lukewarm and we could touch the bottom. I gave Muriel my kayak so we could stay together and she looked right towards the sun. We witnessed a beautiful sunset and then paddled back to shore.

We had a private pier right in front of the hostel, where we took the kayaks back. In the evening, we went to the village festival with the whole hostel. Well, traditionally, there are cockfights. They had them here too and people from all the islands came with their roosters to fight. We didn't really like it, but it was an experience. We didn't stay long though. It was funny how serious the locals took it, it was like a championship boxing match. After 2-3 hours, we went back and relaxed.

It was already the last day. We mainly spent our time taking pictures of the islands.

Another hostel dog, Perla, accompanied us for 4 hours. In between, she chased after pigs, somewhere in the bushes. We couldn't find her for a while when she jumped into the mangroves and swam somewhere. After 10-15 minutes, she always came back to us and was so happy to have found us again. However, when we took a break on one of the beaches, she was glad to have a rest.

Afterwards, we were picked up by a boat around noon and returned to Cartagena. The waves were terrible and we were almost flying for 3/4 of the way. The captain didn't seem to care that we were almost thrown off. That was our adventure on Isla Grande. You can find the rest in the Cartagena blog.

Next Stop: Santa Marta

See you soon

Muriel and Ernesto