Excursion day. Departure at 7.30am. The day includes a boat trip to 5 islands around Cartagena, with snorkelling and lunch included. As soon as we leave the hostel I already suspect that I have made a mistake… The choice of wearing trainers all of a sudden seems completely wrong. In fact it’s pouring! Perfect day for a boat trip 😅😅
After buying 3 brioches for breakfast (and donating 2 on the way) the rain finally subsides. In the square in front of the harbour we gather with all the other participants in the various excursions. Two people ask us to pay, with the possibility of also using a credit card, via a portable pos connected to a smartphone, something I’m seeing for the first time (when it comes to paying, this country is incredibly advanced!! 😅). Once the people in our group have paid (about ten or so), the two people disappear into the crowd… at which point I have the doubt that we have been swindled 🙈 luckily, however, I was wrong.
Within minutes we are on board a speedboat heading out of the harbour at full speed. The group naturally and spontaneously divides into two, the English-speaking Europeans at the front and the locals at the back (the two Frenchmen in the middle… French…).
I obviously put myself in the back with the hope of blending in (I don’t know how successfully 😂). The speedboat whizzes past tiny islands overlooked by luxurious villas of politicians or belonging to drug lords. After seeing the first islands up close, it’s time for snorkelling. Quite nice, with very colourful fish and corals (not the best of my life). A hilarious scene happens on a nearby speedboat: a man is about to dive into the sea and the guide suggests he take the mask off his head during the dive and he promptly takes the mask and throws it into the sea 😂😂😂😂😂
The next stop is a dive to see Pablo Escobar’s sunken plane. The shape of the plane is clearly visible, now covered by marine vegetation, although the depth of about 8 metres does not help, forcing you to free dive to get a decent view of it.
Back on the road to the next island, we take the opportunity to get to know our tour mates better, two Panamanian girls, a couple from Cali, Germans, the two Frenchmen, a Mexican guy accompanied by a Frenchwoman and three Israelis. We finally reach the last island, the one where we will have lunch. It is time to leave the speedboat and take all our things and it is here that I realise I have made a huge mistake. My shoes are completely soaked, along with my socks 😅 (it was compulsory to walk barefoot on the speedboat and it rained several times during the crossing, even though my shoes were under the canopy).
The thing is, they are soaked and the extremely high humidity doesn’t allow them to dry out. Goodbye shoes for at least two days…
The rest of the day includes the afternoon free on the island, which we spend strolling on the beach (we even meet a drunken ‘little mermaid’ lying on the shore, her mouth open through which she drinks a little seawater at every wave) while waiting for nightfall. In fact, the last activity of the excursion is to see the luminescent plankton. Just after sunset (marvellous, with photos however ruined by one of the Israelis wanting to show off with useless and annoying handstands right in front of us), it is time to board a smaller boat and head into the darkness of a lagoon. With the engines switched off, the guide asks someone to jump into the water because the plankton reacts to the movement by lighting up. Unfortunately this night we encountered a lazy plankton…. You could hardly see anything 😅😅
Just a very faint glow, very faint indeed. The return journey was via an air-conditioned bus at full blast (yes, on the coast in Colombia air conditioning is used as a weapon of mass destruction, 16 degrees!!!! 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) not before walking barefoot through a wonderful muddy area 😅.
Arriving at the hostel the hot shower is a must (I wish there was hot water 😂), not before asking for a change of bed, as the one assigned to me was exactly under the air conditioner and I want to live! 😅