Despite Cartagena's location right on the coast, the most popular beaches are a boat ride away at either Playa Blanca or Islas del Rosario. We decided to spend the day at Playa Blanca. Islas del Rosario is further away and all the boat tours that go there also make a stop at Playa Blanca, which means that you don't get much beach time at either. Plus, it's described as a white sand beach paradise, so how could we go wrong?
Getting to the beaches is an interesting experience. We were prepared for the throngs of shady "vendors" that we encountered on the way to the ticket booths. These guys were pretty annoying - they don't actually sell you anything, just talk to you all the way to the ticket window as if they work for the boat company, then demand a tip for their "services" once you buy a ticket from the actual boat company. We just walked right up to the ticket window and had no problems, but more susceptible tourists fell victim to the scam. Once again, research, preparation and following our gut instincts / basic common sense have been very helpful tools for international travel.
The boat ride to Playa Blanca was about 45 minutes and was pretty enjoyable - the breeze was a welcome relief in the heat and the views were fantastic. We were one of the first boats to arrive for the day so we had our pick of seating on the beach!
Pulling up to the beach.
We both realized we hadn't been to a proper Caribbean beach in a while - just amazing.
It got a little more crowded later in the day, but for the morning we pretty much had the beach to ourselves.
There are a bunch of restaurants along the beach, but we didn't realize they were all only selling hot plates of food, mostly fresh whole fish. While it looked good, neither of us was in the mood for that kind of lunch on a hot day like today. We decided we'd hold out for an early dinner and get by with a tropical cocktail for lunch.
Drinks in coconuts make Sarah very happy. She bought this Coco Loco from a guy carting around a wheel barrel of booze and whole coconuts.
Modeling our new bathing suits (Success! Sarah's search is over). This is probably the tannest we've both ever been, by the way.
Our boat picked us up at 3pm to head back to Cartagena. The wind had picked up a little by this point and it seemed like a storm might roll through, but we never got any rain. Well, it might as well have been storming for the entire boat ride home because we got totally soaked by all the waves. Not a terrible way to end the day, just not what we were expecting (should've left our clothes in our backpacks!).
Sarah tried to duck out of the way, but it didn't do any good - we had a waves like this splashing us most of the way home.
Life jackets definitely required.
After changing out of our soaked clothes, we headed to dinner at Grecia, a Greek restaurant in the Walled City. We weren't sure what to expect - it was well-reviewed online, but how good can Greek food be in Cartagena? Well the answer is awesome, Greek food in Cartagena is awesome. It's a small store with only a few tables, but the owner knows exactly what he's doing. Despite the plethora of Greek food available in New York (and our trip to Greece last summer!), this was one of the best Greek meals we've ever had. We were too hungry to pause for a picture before digging in, but Sarah has decided we will go back tomorrow...not that I'm complaining!
Tuckered out from the sun we are heading to bed early tonight. Tomorrow is our last day in the historic part of Cartagena - on Thursday we move a mile down the road to explore Bocagrande, the newer part of the city.