Cartagena, Isla Del Rosario, Islas de San Bernardo/Tintipan and Sapzurro PHOTOS–>>Cartagena Colombia
The passage from Santa Marta to Cartagena is approx 120 miles. We set off at 9:40 and arrived at dawn, but the actual passage into Cartagena anchorage took until 8:00 am, as it is quite a long channel in between the islands. Our overnight passage went as well as can be expected. The only rough water was off of Barranquilla where the Rio Magdalena flows out into the sea. There the water was a weird mix of colors and as it conflicted with the swell there were some quite big seas.
Cartagena
was not what either of us was expecting. Part of it is a very large modern city with a huge 
protected harbour. There are 2 busy massive cargo docks with ultra modern automated cranes where enormous cargo ships are constantly being loaded and unloaded. One of which is located on Manga. There is a large industrial area, with industrial docks, and all manor of industrial equipment. There is the ultra modern, expensive side – Boca Grande – where there are high-rise exclusive apartments and shopping plaza malls. There is the regular city, which has a densely packed market and shanty areas. Then there is the Centro mere Historico – the old city, which is a world heritage site. The anchorage is off of Manga, 
next to Club Nautico and other marinas. We anchored near Club Nautico and ahead of Amurula, Eric and Lynne’s boat.
The walk from the dingy dock into the old city would take us about half and hour, but it was an extremely hot walk. We both found that it was probably the hottest place we had visited. On Aeeshah we had some breeze so it was passable, but on land the only way to travel was in the shade.
We enjoyed walking into the old town during 
the evening as the temperature was cooler and the streets were alive. Due to the Christmas season the city was decorated with lights everywhere and there were fireworks most nights. In the plazas local dance groups would perform, musicians would play; many families would be out for the evening enjoying the atmosphere. Saturday nights were the nights for 
weddings. The churches would be decorated and you’d hear lovely singing, guests would be dressed to the 9s and horse and carriages would drive the bridal couple to and from the wedding. Actually there were many horse carriages for hire and couples or families would be driven around the city loop while musicians would jump aboard too and serenade them.
I investigated and found an excellent walking 
tour. It is with a local called Edgar, who had an excellent tour technique that simply grabbed everyone’s attention. We met at 10:00 and toured for close to 3 hours, all around the old city, listening to interesting stories and historic facts. By the end of the tour we really knew our 
way around the old city.
We visited many of the historic sites while in Cartagena:
Palacio de la Inquisicion/ Palace of the inquisition:
Housed the notorious gruesome inquisition whose job it
was to stamp out heresy. The Holy Offices main job was to instigate proceedings against such crimes as witchcraft, magic, and blasphemy, (anyone who did not conform to the Catholic Church). The culprits when found guilty were publicly executed; about 800 people were put to death here. There are some of the tools of torture on display, plus the guillotine and the hang mans noose.
Convento and Iglesia de San Pedro Claver:
Was a convent that was founded by Jesuits. The name was changed to honor San Pedro Claver who became known as the Apostle of the Blacks, or the Slave of Slaves. He was a monk who spent his life ministering to the enslaved Africans 
and he was the first person to be canonized in the New World for his amazing acts of kindness. The convent is a 3-story museum now along side the church. It is a beautiful colonial building with excellent displays. We enjoyed walking around and viewing the exhibits especially the San Pedro Claver rooms where he actually lived. You can still see his body as it lies under the alter in the church.
Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas:
is a fortress, in fact it is the greatest fortress ever built by the Spaniards in any of their colonies. The original fort was commissioned in 1630; it was enlarged over the next 100 years and more until 
it became an impregnable fortress. We spent a good many hours exploring all the levels, walkways tunnels and terraces of this massive fort. There were great views across the city too.
Las Muralles:
Are the thick old city walls that were started to be built towards the end of the 16th century after an attack by Sir Francis Drake. They took 2 centuries to build and are absolutely massive. John and I walked them in 2 segments, it was a long, hot, walk each time and truly illustrated just what an 
astonishing piece of military engineering Las Muralles are.
Museo Del Oro Zenu is Cartagena’s small gold museum.
We enjoyed visiting there; again the gold work is amazing.
Museo Naval Del Caribe – the Navel Museum:
Was an excellent museum. John particularity enjoyed all the exhibits, unfortunately much info was written n Spanish and so not available to us.
Iglesia de Santo Domingo, Iglesia de Santo Toribio de Mangrovejo are 2 examples of the wonderful old churches found in Cartagena. I enjoy visiting the churches, as the architecture is lovely.
Getsemani:
The outer walled town is exciting to visit too. The lanes, small shops, shady plaza and graffiti were fun to see. During the evening it is also full of street entertainment, which we really enjoyed.
Malls, there were 2 excellent malls that we visited, for shopping and AC enjoyment. We had fun buying our Christmas presents for each other and met with friends for coffee and others for lunch.
One morning Lynne and Eric with the boys in their dingy and John and I in our dingy drove along the Boca Grande sea front. The beaches were all 
ready for the masses to enjoy so we went for the end by the sea wall and enjoyed some time on the beach. Another evening, John and I were so desperate to cool down we went back that way and had a swim. The water was tepid, but did help to lower our body 
temperature.
A dingy drift was organized by Lynne, so along with Ron and Debbie in their dingy and Lynne, Eric and boys in their and John and I in ours we went to the end of the harbour near Muelle Turistico de los Pegasos – walkway with Pegasus – where we tied to a large yellow harbour buoy and enjoyed our evening snacks and drinks/cocktails. It was definitely a novel sight to the passerbyers and very enjoyable few hours for us.
Overall we had a great 12 days in Cartagena and intend to go back.
Isla Del Rosario
We left Cartagena 16th December and had an excellent sail to the Rosario islands. Amarula followed us. We had agreed to be buddy boats till we reached Portobello, as after their attack we all felt nervous and more vulnerable even though we had really stepped up security. Anyway we anchored off of the main island in the Rosario group. We enjoyed a great swim, a quiet evening with no land noise or light pollution.
Islas de San Bernardo:
We set off for these islands the next day. They 
are a small chain of islands that include Tintipan, where we anchored for the night. Santa Cruz island, which is one of the chain, is known to be built out of seashells by the local fishermen. It is renound for being the world’s most populated islet with 1247 people living there in just 90 houses.
We enjoyed a snorkel in clear water for the first time since Bonaire. There were lots of fish, healthy coral and large orange and yellow starfish. Eric took the boys to the beach on his kayak while we wallowed in the warm water the dogs played Frisbee.
Our next day at Tintipan dawned with no wind, flat calm, and no way
to sail. A decision was made to sit tight and await the supposed 
winds arriving the next day. We all set off in the dinghies to explore the few nearby islands. Tintipan is just a maze of bays with beaches and mangrove channels leading to more of the kind. There are very nice properties
spread out along the way and supposedly they belong to the rich Colombians who visit ocasionally and have workers/caretakers living and maintaining them in the meantime. There were some littler islets that were just floating buildings and looked to be for tourists. We circled Santa Cruz and were amazed by the way the whole island is just a mass of wooden and tin buildings. There were people everywhere, it looked like a big mess to me, but I’m assuming they have nowhere else to live.
Heading out:
Back at the boat later that afternoon the wind was picking up, but there was also the distant booming of thunder and large cumulus clouds off on the horizon. Due to the wind that was increasing John and Lynne and Eric made the decision to head out. I was not happy, as we were not prepared for an overnight 24-hour sail. Off we headed, we had to carefully weave our way through the maze of reefs and that was when we lost the sun, so 0 visibility. The wind definitely picked up all the way to over 30knots, plus the seas kicked in. It was a dangerous position we were in. On we cautiously continued until finally we were away from the
reefs and in the deep blue. That was when the wind died and then came round to being right directly towards us along with choppy rough seas.
Amurula had exited via a different passage so we had lost sight of them. We heard via the VHF that they had turned back due to the lack of wind and were anchoring near where we had left the last island. We agreed to meet in Sapzurro.
Our over night passage began rough and under motor, but improved and we ended up having a fine overnight sail into Sapzurro. When you enter the harbour it has large mountains behind and high cliffs on one side and reefs on the other so one must stay right down the middle. There are large rolling seas entering the 
harbour, but in the left/southern side there is an anchorage that is somewhat protected.
Sapzurro
The jungle-covered hills in front of the much higher mountains of Darien and big swells crashing into the cliffs on both sides of the bay create a beautiful picturesque scene. The village itself is a fishing village and quaint. There are no roads leading here and just over the mountains is 
Panama. We saw evidence of human trafficking, but you just look the other way and mind your own business there.
We spent one day exploring the bay. We walked the entire shoreline of the bay, through the village along a pathway, the only pathway. Then we hiked over the headland along the 
shore outside the bay towards a headland to – Cabo Tiburon The coastline was beautiful, the beach scenic and the hike very enjoyable. After listening to the radio for a message from Amurula we deceided to move on to the San Blas and maybe find them. It was goodbye to Colombia after nearly 3 months, but we do hope to return.
