Hello travelers, this is the second part of our trip to the beautiful and paradisiacal island of San Andres in the Colombian Caribbean, in this post we will tell you about our adventure going around the island, we will know the main points of interest like the beaches of San Luis, Punta Sur, the blowhole and we’ll have lunch facing the sea, so you can not miss it.
We started this great day at 9 o’clock in the morning, since the people who rent the carts arrive from this hour, we have planned to go around the island, it has approximately 30 kilometers, if you dedicate to driving without stopping you can turn around in an hour and a half but the normal thing is to take the whole day, stop and visit many tourist places.
Rent the vehicle
The carts must deliver them at 6pm and you must return it in the fuel level that was delivered to you, we drove all day and spent 10,000 pesos on gas so do not worry, these carts are savers. There is also the possibility for a higher price, to rent them with the fuel included, in this case you should not replace it
There are many types of vehicles to rent on the island, from small golf carts, “mini – mules”, kawasaki ‘s, normal cars and even motorbikes, the most commonly rented are golf cars, they have lower cost but their speed is very low, we recommend mini mules or kawasaki’s, they are automatic cars very easy to drive even for inexperienced people, most have hydraulic steering. a good option is to take a small loop near your place of rental to check the conditions of the vehicle before leaving for the adventure of going around the island, check the conditions of the ignition, the direction, brakes and general condition, also verify the level of fuel in front of the person who rents you the vehicle.
In terms of prices, for the year 2018 they range between 140,000 and 220,000 Colombian pesos, about 49 to 76 dollars for the whole day. This depends on the place where you rent it and the type of vehicle, some have capacity for 2 people and others for up to 5 people.
Start of the tour
After checking everything, we left the city center, it is difficult to get lost as the roads are well signposted and when you leave the city you always have the sea by your side, however if you think you need it you can use a navigation service on your phone mobile. We leave by the east side of the island and our first destination is San Luis sector , the journey is about 5.5 km and you will arrive in about 10 minutes, however the sector of San Luis is very extensive, comprising about 4 km.
Rocky Cay
In this sector the beach in front of Rocky Cay is very visited, it is composed of beach clubs of several hotels some parts are private however you can consume something in one of its restaurants such as the restaurant of the Cocoplum hotel and make use of the facilities, you can be a full morning or afternoon and go to Rocky Cay walking because the water level is low, about 70 cm. Next to this cay you will find a boat that is perfect for snorkeling because hundreds of marine species live there. If you go on a cart in some places you will be “charged” 10,000 pesos for leaving it parked, but this is not obligatory, they are people who offer to take care of the car while visiting the beach. You can also take public transport to this beach and if you are going to be there all day there is better because when you rent a cart you want to enjoy it and not have it parked all day.
San Luis sector
Following our tour we found some houses in the form of a small town, there you can find many lodgings of the inn type, it is very cheap and a very desirable option for international tourists who want to be closer to the island culture. more ahead about 30 minutes since we left, we arrived at the beach of the Decameron san luis hotel, this beach does not have the qualities of the center beach but it is more solitary, they are less tourists so if you are looking for tranquility this is your place. the beach has been affected over the years by the waves of the sea and its amount of sand is small, barriers have been set to prevent the sea from getting in, in some places the road has had to be reconstructed for this same reason.
The waves are quite high and can be strong for children and even adults in some cases, it also has several rocks so the use of shoes is essential. You can take some very nice pictures as the view of the waves is magnificent, if you want even more privacy and solitude, go ahead, you will find another more solitary beach where you can enjoy much more, in fact from the beach of the decameron onwards. about 4 km and until the southern tip of the island you will have the same type of beach and it is very lonely.
You can stop at any time and enjoy the water and the sun. normally with these stops you will arrive at noon at the southern tip. in which is the blowhole, before this, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch, its name is precisely Punta Sur restaurant and although the prices are quite high it has a spectacular view. If you want to have lunch there are many other restaurant options, every 2 km you will find places to eat. or if you want to save you can buy lunch at the center from the morning and have lunch at the beach type picnic.
We selected this restaurant simply because of the hunger we had after so much activity in the morning, it has parking for small cars, inside the decoration and shape is of a boat, the bottom of the restaurant is open and is the bow of the boat with one of the best views we have had so far, waves that roar and hit with force, the sea shows all its power at this point that is the southernmost part of the island. It has a children’s pool and a mini-blowhole. As for the food we found it to be very good, although a bit salty, we tried a rice from the sea, a great variety and quantity of seafood, however the price of the dish of this type is 45,000 pesos (16 USD) and there are better options for that price.