Sunday, March 11, 2018
The Tres Amigos got an early start. We had breakfast, then
were taken by Mr. Olga to a boat launch. From there our own private boat, run
by Captain Gabriel and First Mate Henry (actual names may vary) were waiting
for us. The boat took us from Isla Baru to the Rosario Islands, and featured a
sightseeing trip around the islands. We floated past Isla de Pirata (Pirate
Island), past many private islands and even past Pablo Escobar’s rapidly dilapidating
compound on Isla Grande.
Isla de Pirata
Isla Grande
Pablo Escobar's Mansion, Isla Grande
Our first stop was a beachfront restaurant where Henry
fruitlessly tried to catch a lobster in the lobster tank under the dock. Once
he failed, a restaurant worker displayed his lobster catching prowess and we
chose Stan the Lobster to be a featured part of our lunch. After choosing a
fish dish and a shrimp dish to accompany Stan, we boarded the boat again.
Stan the Caribbean Lobster
Would you ever get tired of this spot?
Our second stop of the day was to snorkel the Rosario
Islands barrier reef. Abbey & Mark saw schools of fish, sea cucumbers and
lots of coral while Jen watched from above. Following a lot of coaxing and cajoling
Jen joined the snorkeling crowd and finally saw a fish (or it could have been
Mark’s foot).
After we finished snorkeling we headed back to the
restaurant and enjoyed a delicious fresh seafood feast. Stan was excellent! We
applied copious amounts of sunscreen and laid on the dock for a while, only to
turn a lovely shade of pink (except for Abbey, whose directions say “tans
instantly, just add sun”).
Caribbean Lunch
Once we had our fill of food and sun we ventured out for our
fourth stop of the day, which was a beach on a small island overlooking
beautiful Caribbean turquoise water. Captain Gabriel prompted us to negotiate a
sun-shelter, then informed us we had an hour to enjoy paradise. We think the
hour was just enough time for Captain Gabriel to get a massage from the local
girls but we digress. We enjoyed the buoyant saltwater of the Caribbean ocean
and even saw a local star(fish). After turning a darker shade of red, we dried
off in the sun shelter and took a long boat-ride back to Olga’s place, our home-away-from-home.
It was fun getting beach-to-beach pick-up and drop-off service. That definitely
attracted attention!
A pretty nice beach
The Star(fish) of the Show
It’s worth mentioning that many of the reviews of the Rosario
Islands say that they are gorgeous, but time there is marred by small boats
loaded down driving unsafely, and many vendors pushing their wares constantly.
Olga arranges a tour that is first class the entire way and avoids those
hinderances.
Los Tres Amigos
We showered and relaxed for a while with delicious mojitos,
and then decided on another excursion. Jen was insistent that we go see the
bioluminescent plankton. They are millions of tiny invisible organisms that
when disturbed, quickly display an eerie glow. It looks very much like what
comes out of the magic wand from your favorite Disney movie.
Olga wasn’t feeling well, but still took the time to arrange
Eduardo, the cousin of a tour operator to show us the right way. We drove to
Playa Blanca, which during the day is an amalgamation of vendors, tour
operators and restaurants, all pushing their wares on guests. It has spoiled a
beautiful white-sand beach.
During the night however, many of the people have left so
the restaurants are busy serving people and boats are leaving the beach to see
the bioluminescent plankton. Led by Eduardo, we made our way down a dark hill
to the beach and weaved along the shore trying to find a boat, when we were
kidnapped. Wait, no, again we were fine. Unfortunately we were just too late
and all the boats were full or had left.
Eduardo negotiated with a boat operator to still take us,
and we were left to wait for an unknown amount of time. We sat and
people-watched on the beach, saw a lot of surf, local dogs and entertainers.
Being on a local beach at night in a place like Colombia not knowing a soul is
not something everyone would do, but we found it to be safe, the locals to be
friendly and everyone looking to have a good time.
Nighttime in Playa Blanca
After about an hour, many soaking wet people came by and we
correctly guessed our boat had come in. We were ushered to a boat guided by
Ralphie and Chad (actual names still may vary). This boat was smaller than the
first, and while we had our own private tour we needed to sit in specific
places for ballast. Chad zoomed the engine, and raced through the water by the
beach, heading north towards a bay.
Once in the middle of the bay, he cut the engines and said “that’s
it, we’re here!” in Spanish. We were sitting in the dark wondering what was
going on, when he stirred up the water next to him and it started glowing!
Abbey and Mark hopped in, and stirred up the water as much as possible to make
it glow, while Jen watched from the boat. Chad liked Abbey and started teasing
her, hoping to get lucky. We arranged for a June wedding, and booked the
priest. Hope the in-laws like her! (Sorry Rob). After some teasing about
crocodiles which didn’t come across well due to the language difference, and
some splashed water we decided to get back into the boat.
The boat headed back to Playa Blanca after a short detour
through mangroves, to see the water by them eerily glowing as fish stirred it
up. Chad led us back to our car, where Abbey broke his heart by declining a
late Sunday night beach dance party. Mark drove back to Olga’s home, where an
excellent dinner of soup, mincemeat and salad was waiting for us. Even the
tomatoes were peeled! We fell into bed and slept soundly after another exciting
day.