🙂 Sun, Sea & Fun
🙁 S
Hotel Coralina Island is a unique place in the Caribbean Sea, in the very heart of the Natural park of the Rosario Islands, south of Cartagena Colombia. This privileged paradise is quiet and abounds with native vegetation. Coral reefs are part of the ecosystem that surrounds this vibrant island. Located on Isla Grande in the Rosario Islands, Laguna Encantada is a wonderful choice to swim with plankton. By day, this brackish lagoon offers a safe place for swimmers of all levels but at night, it turns into a lit up fairy-land as soon as you jump in – but sadly only when the moon allows! It was too bright for us. Pablo Escobar’s ‘secret’ and now very much abandoned Caribbean mansion was in the next bay from us!
We were collected from our hotel at 07h00 and transferred to the harbour to hop onto the speedboat which took 1hr30mins to get to the island. While waiting for the boat we got chatting to a lovely couple from Miami called Sandra and Josh. It was Josh’s birthday! Sandra kindly gave us a Dramamine for anti-sea sickness.
The speedboat was super fast and we arrived to be greeted by the rathe eccentric owner who had been born on the island and welcomed us with a glass of wine. It is a little piece of paradise. Our room would only be ready at 2pm so we chilled with some delicious cocktails. The mangroves are quite amazing.
I enjoyed a fantastic 1 hour massage in a little hit over the sea.
Linch was AMAZING! The biggest lobster that I have ever eaten! Paul’s red snapper was also divine.
Our room was large and spacious with a private deck over the sea. We then checked into our room and fell into a deep sleep!
We only just managed to wake up before sunset! Josh & Sandra invited us to join them for his birthday drink and we ascertained that the reason that we were knocked out was the Dramamine pill that we had taken!! We had a lovely evening with them and had dinner together.
The next morning we were collected after breakfast at 09h00 to go diving. The first dive was a bit disappointing but the second dive was great for corals.
We headed back for lunch and relaxed for the afternoon after saying goodbye to Sandra & Josh. Sunset was beautiful. Very relaxing.
Dinner was delicious – it was Paul’s turn for the huge and delicious lobster!
When we woke up the next morning a storm was blowing through!
Fortunately we missed the brunt of it and the sun was soon shining again! Just in time for us to take our speedboat back to the mainland for our flight home… but first we took a few photos of the infamous Pablo Escobar’s ‘secretly’ located Caribbean mansion (now abandoned) which was literally in the bay next to us. Our Host, Pierre must have know him as their family have owned the island forever! There is also a sunken plane in the bay which is frequented by snorkelers.
We continued to the mainland – which reminded us of the Everglades in Florida (Escobar’s hippos probably lurk in the waters! LOL). We were then transported by car for the 1hr30min trip to the airport – what a fantastic trip – Colombia – we will be back!
Back to: Colombia
