Yesterday morning we were both feeling up for a dive. We put all the gear in the dinghy and headed out to a mooring ball on the seaward side of the nearby reef carefully finding a way through the rocks. This dive was very interesting due to the landscape below the water. The terrain was undulating full of craters and mounds. Following the contours brought us in and out of each dip not knowing what was over the next ridge. The sea life was less abundant than normal but I saw one of the largest green morays I’ve ever seen and a lobster tucked under a ridge.
Later in the morning we headed ashore to the hotel which had a pier and flew a dive flag. We wondered if they would fill our tanks for a decent fee giving us one less thing to do in Cartagena. The girl we spoke to had never been asked to do this before and after consulting with her boss they came up with a price of 25,000 pesos a tank ($12.50). Given that we know its $7,000 a tank in Cartagena we passed on this. We also looked at the menu but found the place equally expensive so contented ourselves with a brief look around as the place was quite beautiful.
The rest of the day was relaxing and reading followed by cleaning the deck once it had cooled down sufficiently. We should have done this when we first arrived down here as its in Cartagena where it gets all grimy. At least we’ve minimised the build up. I also dinghied around the corner with my hand held GPS to examine the buoys marking our route out from behind the reef. I’m glad I did this as some were missing and I was able to determine a good route though the unmarked portion.
We’ll be heading out of here between 8 and 9 getting into Cartagena around midday. If today is like the recent days there will be little or no wind in the morning so we’ll be motoring all the way back. In the afternoons the wind picks up a little but this is not worth waiting for as it typical blows right from the direction we want to travel.
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