Adventures with David & Gail

San Andres stopover! - Upon our arrival in San Andres at 8:30 in the morning, 4 members of the Colombian Navy greeted us, reviewed our paperwork and made sure we checked in with the Coast Guard and Port Captain. After taking a nice hot shower, David took a quick nap since I had gotten a lot more sleep during the trip! Our friends, Doug and Linda, picked us up and we went into Nene's Marina to meet Rene the agent to clear customs and immigration. He did some paperwork and called immigration, who came out to pick up our passports and then brought them back to us. We just had a cool drink at Nene's while they processed everything. While waiting, we met Bill on S/V Orion, a 1920's steel hull ketch, who has been in San Andres for over a year. They came in search of good kite surfing and have not left. He was a wealth of local knowledge!

We took his advice and went to a local restaurant, La Parquedero, a few blocks away for dinner. Wonderful red bean soup and lots of food for around $5.00! Be sure to ask for the soup, if you go! Early to bed for a much needed 12 hours of sleep.

San Andres is part of a three island Archipelago with Providencia (we're going there next) connected to the tiny island of Santa Catalina. The first settlement here is registered in the seventeenth century by English Puritans. Over the years it was traded back and forth between England and Spain until it was finally awarded to Spain and then to Colombia in the 1800's. Its location is about 400 miles from Colombia but only 100 miles from Nicaragua so there has been an ongoing territorial dispute mainly for the fishing rights. In 2007, the international courts declared Colombia's claim for the island valid but denied their total water rights. This seems to have hurt the fishing industry here as the boats are lying unused in the port.

We (Doug and Linda also) rented golf carts the next day for a tour around the island. It is only 7 miles long and 1.2 miles wide and the road around is a total of 19 miles. We took our time and stopped to explore craft shops, enjoy the views and have a wonderful lunch at Punta Sur. Punta Sur as the name implies is at the far south end of the island and has beautiful views of the azure water. The restaurant itself is a piece of art and filled with driftwood sculptures, glass bottle designs, mosaics, and other native art. The meal was a platter for 2 shared by 4 with no left overs! It was very good with lobster, fish, calamari, conch, and crab claws. If you make it to San Andres, don't miss Punta Sur!

We finished our circumnavigation, passing by Cueva de Morgan. According to local legend, pirate Henry Morgan buried his treasure here. In addition to the Pirate Museum and cave, there is a gated compound that represents a native village with life like sculptures. While we did not go in, we enjoyed some of the sculptures through the fence.

The west side of the island has beautiful beaches while the east is primarily iron shore. We continued by the Navy base and airport and found our way back to the cart rental place. (Somewhat of a miracle!)

Then we started a walking tour of the tourist area. We headed north this time, and found the visitor center and craft market. Continuing on we found many shops geared toward the tourists including a number of bedding stores. Who knew San Andres has very reasonable prices on bedding? The girls both took advantage and bought new quilts and sheets.

The next day we took the morning to do boat chores, but the afternoon was spent exploring in the dinghy. The water was so clear and so many colors of aquamarine that we just enjoyed exploring the small islands and many wrecks near the anchorage. We beached the dinghys at Johnny Cay, for a walk around the beach. It is set up to accommodate the weekend/tourists, but was closed when we were there. The iguanas scampered by and we enjoyed the quiet.

We did some more shopping the next day. For such a small island, there are an amazing number of shops and groceries. The girls enjoyed some more craft shops and both bought another quilt and more sheets! David went around the port looking at all the wrecks and sunken ships. There are a lot for such a small area.

Our last day on San Andres, we walked up to the Primera Iglesia Bautista (First Baptist Church) which is located on La Loma, the highest point of the island. We did our usual walk up, up, up. But this time other than being in the sun part of the way, most of the walk was more gradual and not as steep as we have done in the past! We were rewarded by both a wonderful view and friendly attendants that told us the history of the church which was is 168 years old. It was actually built in Alabama, disassembled, sent to San Andres and re-assembled. We were able to climb up to the bell tower for a view of both sides of the island. We caught a ride back on a golf cart with a young Colombian couple. Gracias a Dios!

We went to dinner with Bill and Doug and Linda at La Regetta. We had seen it from the water the first day, but were surprised to find white tablecloths, a real 4 star place. Since we came in from the street, we walked along an entrance lined with more bottle art. Seems to be a popular theme on this island. At least they use the bottles! Dinner was excellent and we happily topped it off with ice cream on the way back to the boats.

And now we are checked out and ready to head to Providencia in the morning! So long, San Andres. We're glad we came.