Island we Anchored off in Rosarios


We continued from Isla Fuerte to the San Bernardo islands. We stayed several days here enjoying the tranquil anchorage. There were several large resorts that seemed to be closed either for the season or permanently.
There is a boating saying that "It's not if you are going to go aground but When" Well when happened as we approached Islas del Rosarios. We lost our lighting and before we knew it we kissed the ground. Nothing happened. We were going extremely slow and just had to back out.
The Rosario Islands were declared a Colombia National Park in 1977 for the purpose of study, protection, and preservation. The Park's coral reefs, sea flora and fauna, mangroves and lagoons contain more than 1300 species of plants and animals, native to the islands. All the islands are surrounded by coral reefs.
the Natural Park Regulations protect the sea floor and its ecosystem, the islands, wildlife and preserve the overall ecology. Tourists from around the world come to learn, admire and enjoy the underwater Natural Park.
Park visitors are encouraged to protect the delicate environment by not littering, not buying any animals or plants (dead or alive) and respecting the flora and fauna. This was pleasant as there was no garbage in the water. Something we haven't seen since Mexico.
We hired a couple of locals for a day to tour us around instead of using our own dinghy. This turned out to be a great thing to do as I believe we saw more than we would have had we tried to explore ourselves. Unfortunately I was not vigilant enough and burnt. I am paying for it still 4 days later.
I know we have said we have fallen in love with all the countries we have visited but I truly believe the media has done an injustice to many countries. It's not scary, the PEOPLE here are WONDERFUL and helpful.
The promise had been made by President; Alvaro Uribe that he would be tough on crime and he is keeping to his word. The mafia is being dismantled; the prostitution has been legalized with strict rules thus keeping people more safe. US currency is kept to a minimum and the businesses dealing with the currency must be able to show the paper work trail. This explains why the fishermen trying to sell their catch wanted pesos only. It seems to be working for them and crime is way down.



We continued our track into Cartagena. WOW WOW WOW.
Cartagena is an old Walled City. It was the fortification Spanish town that was so important to the Spanish Empire.
Ken and I will be taking a tour tomorrow with a guide and will have lots to write about next week.
Just a few facts:
Colombia is bordered on the northwest by Panama, on the east by Venezuela and Brazil and on the southwest by Peru and Ecuador. Through the western half of the country, three Andean ranges run north and south. The eastern half is a low, jungle covered plain, fringed by tributaries of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers, inhabited mostly by isolated tropical forest Indian tribes. The fertile plateau and valley of the eastern range are the most densely populated parts of the country. The capital Bogota has 12 million people. Cartagena 2.5 million.
We are looking forward to learning all about this city and passing it on. It appears to be one of the nicest cities we have yet to visit. I posted a video of Ken being attack by Lucy the monkey on a previous blog. So go check it out. I have to organize my 1000 pictures so it might take a while to post some of the pictures. Have patience. It will happen. We haven't had Internet for almost 5 weeks.