• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 935 0

The most luxurious and expensive resort in the Bahía Solano area, El Almejal also has the most ingenious cabin design – the opposite walls of the sitting-room area open completely, allowing the sea breeze to pass right through. A small creek spills into a man-made swimming hole near the back of the cabins; select a nearby cabin for the soothing sound of flowing water to gently lull you to sleep. A turtle-breeding facility collects and hatches turtle eggs before returning them to the sea (September to December). Concrete stairs behind the hotel lead uphill to a lookout point – in whale-watching season you can sometimes spot whales playing in the waters just off the coast. Nonguests are also allowed to use the spot; just swing by reception first to ask permission.

Nearest town: El Valle (Click here)

Whale-watching package tour: COP$700,000 to COP$1 million

Information: 57 4 230 6060; www.almejal.com.co

Parque Nacional Natural (PNN) Ensenada de Utría This narrow inlet of water is one of the best places to see whales close-up while staying on dry land. During the calving season the whales enter the ensenada (narrow bay) and play just a few hundred meters from shore. Long closed due to security concerns, the visitors center on the eastern shore of the ensenada was reopening at time of research, including newly refurbished cabins designed to accommodate up to 30 people.

Nearest town: between Nuquí and El Valle (Click here)

Whale watching: COP$300,000 to COP$400,000 per boat, plus accommodations and park entrance

Information: contact tour agency Mano Cambiada in Nuquí; 314 618 8900, 311 872 7887; www.nuquipacifico.com

* * *

On the coast itself, Taganga offers some of the cheapest diving courses on the planet. Here you can get your PADI or NAUI certification for around COP$550,000 for a four-day course. The diving itself is second-rate, but at these prices, who cares?

Cartagena also boasts good diving nearby (Click here). The Islas de Rosario in particular is famous for its diving, although warm-water currents have damaged the reef somewhat, and the diving is no longer as good as it once was. Better still are the Islas de San Bernardo near Tolú.

The Caribbean coast’s real jewels for diving are the small towns of Capurganá and Sapzurro, just minutes from the Panamanian border. Once too dangerous to visit, they are now slowly attracting adventurous travelers seeking the best beaches and reefs. The tricky bit is getting here – you’ll either need to endure a long boat journey from Turbo, or fly from Medellín.

* * *

Selva Humeda de Colombia by Richard Evans Schultes, et al, has some great photos of wildlife and the jungle in Colombia, and makes a great coffee-table book.

* * *

Colombia’s Pacific coast, on the other hand, offers a completely different diving experience. There is slightly less visibility, but the quantity and size of the marine life is jaw-dropping. Isla Malpelo, a small Colombian island 500km west of the continent, boasts schools of more than a thousand sharks. It can only be reached by joining a minimum eight-day live-aboard dive cruise from Buenaventura on Colombia’s Pacific coast, Puntarenas in Costa Rica, or Puerto David, Panama.

Isla Gorgona, a larger island near the coast, also offers fine diving, and in whale-watching season you can observe them from below the waves. There are also some diving opportunities near Playa Huína, Click here outside Bahía Solano, where a warship that survived Pearl Harbor has been sunk to create an artificial reef.

Colombia has numerous hyperbaric chambers, should you find yourself with a case of ‘the bends.’ On the Caribbean coast, there’s the Naval Hospital ( 5 665 3987) on Isla del Rosario. On San Andrés, Hospital Timothy Britton ( 8 512 7444) has a decompression chamber. The only chamber on the Pacific coast is outside Buenaventura at Base Naval Bahía Malaga Hospital ( 2 246 0649, emergency 2 246 0871).

Return to beginning of chapter

BIRD-WATCHING

Colombia has some of the greatest biodiversity of birds in the world, and easily rivals