Welcome to Cartagena, the land of colours, good food, and fun vibes! We sailed in here after a three-day passage from Aruba and were amazed at what we found.
Today I want to tell you all about it — from what to expect when sailing to Cartagena Colombia, to clearance, weather, food, and Old Town.
If you’re planning on cruising Cartagena, Colombia by boat, this should give you a good idea of what to expect.
Related:
Highlights of Sailing and Surfing Tobago
3 Days in Fernando de Noronha by Boat
Our 6000nm Sailing Route Across the Atlantic
Entering Cartagena by Boat
In Colombia you need an agent to clear in, so we got one. We used a great guy called Jose who spoke enough English and made everything very simple and smooth.
Before we got to meet Jose though, we had to make it into the anchorage.
We arrived at night, which made things a little tricky, but being a big port the main channel was well lit. We radioed the port authority to check if we were clear to enter the channel — lucky we did, because we had to wait for a ship to go in first. The channel is quite narrow, so definitely worth mentioning.
Once into the port, it’s about 6nm from the main channel up to the anchorage area. This stretch is pretty easy and is once again well lit with buoys and city lights. Beware of moving ships and make sure you have AIS and radio on.
Coming into the anchorage, we found several boats anchored off the marinas, so we found a spot and dropped the anchor… only to have it drag in the mud when we tried to dig it in. So, we dropped again in a different spot and thankfully it grabbed this time!
Finally able to sleep, we lay down excited to see the city in daylight.
The morning brought a lot of ooohs and aaahs as we took in the sight of the big city surrounding us.
After some breakfast we went in to meet up with Jose. He took our passports to immigration while we went for a wander into Getsemaní — a very ‘arty’ part of town that I’ll talk more about later.
On our way back we got our passports — officially stamped into Cartagena.
Overall, the entrance was very easy and smooth, if a bit expensive. It costs around $200 USD to clear in (including the agent fee). The bigger challenge for us was getting Colombia covered by insurance, which… well, it cost quite a lot. But worth it!
Right, we were in — time to explore.
Old Town & Getsemaní
Way back in 1499 the first Spanish settlers arrived in Colombia and colonisation began.
Fast forward to today and there is beautiful Spanish architecture throughout the city that tourists love to explore — us included.
Old Town is the main historic area and is full of tour guides, amazing buildings, a huge church, and a fort along the outer wall. There are also cute cafés, really fancy restaurants, and locals selling delicious mango. All of these were highlights during our time wandering through.
Then there’s an area near Old Town called Getsemaní.
This was our favourite part of what we saw in Cartagena.
During the day you can walk through and see amazing murals, breathtaking paintings, and more incredible old buildings. But the real fun is when it comes alive at night.
Now, usually we stay on the boat at night and have dinner on board, but Cartagena was so cool in the evening that every night we were out finding food and listening to South American music.
On Sunday night we went in and there was a whole dance class happening in the middle of Getsemaní, filled with people just enjoying the vibes. It’s hard to explain… it wasn’t wild — actually it felt safe — but still lively enough to be really fun, you know? I think you have to visit to understand.
Food We Tried
Food was totally a highlight, as we hadn’t had street food in so long.
On our first walk we saw sweet and sour mango in fruit carts, delicious empanadas, and so many other things.
Our favourites? Honestly, all of it. I can’t remember eating something that didn’t taste good — which is saying something because I’m not the most adventurous eater.
So here are my top three:
Lime drink
Sounds normal, right? Well, it wasn’t. All throughout the streets there are people with glass containers full of lime-ice water, and wow — take it from me, it’s the best drink you’ll find there. Once we tried it, we made sure to have at least one every day.
Arepas
Yum! These are like a fried corn cake/taco filled with egg, potato, chicken, or shredded meat and vegetables. They are SO GOOD. We had them for dinner twice and… divine. Just trust me.
Empanadas
You may have heard of them, but these are Cartagena empanadas and they are ridiculously good. Basically a crispy fried corn pocket filled with potato or meat (or both). We actually had them for breakfast after seeing that’s what all the tour boat drivers were eating. I rarely go savoury for breakfast, but I did here.
Those are my top three — definitely the highlight of our stop. We didn’t cook a single night we were there.
Outer Islands
Before we left we headed out to the islands about 20nm down the coast, where the tour boats do day trips. We’d been told the water was clear and it was beautiful… they weren’t wrong.
We didn’t spend long there, but we swam for most of the day and went for a walk on the island — which is where one of the best memories happened… and yes, it involves food again.
We were walking back to the dinghy and passed a man with a cart. He asked us something in Spanish and lifted the lid to reveal some very delicious-looking baked goods. He explained one was coconut and one was lime.
We bought some to try — they were still warm.
The first ones disappeared so fast that we had to run after him and buy more (not kidding). I have no idea if this guy is there regularly, so no promises you’ll find him, but it’s worth trying.
So the outer islands were a great way to finish our time in Cartagena, and we were so glad we made the stop.
Clearing Out
Clearing out was just as easy as clearing in — maybe even easier.
We gave Jose our passports again and got them back that afternoon with outward-bound stamps. Here’s his agency on NoForeignLand in case you need his service: White Light Agency.
Super easy.
Summary
Cruising in Cartagena is unlike anywhere we’ve been, and we loved our time there. It’s become one of our top cities, and if you take one thing from this post, I hope it’s that you should go to Cartagena.
Sailing there was actually really cool as well. The passage is tricky to forecast, and making it through the compression zone is a huge relief. To do that and then arrive in such a beautiful city makes it even sweeter.
I’d love to know what you thought of my food obsession — and if you have any questions about cruising Cartagena, Colombia, please comment and let me know!