Colombia Trip: Day Nine (Taganga & Snorkeling)

Up at six again this morning, for some reason I’m getting up way earlier than I do when I’m not traveling. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that there’s nothing to do in Santa Marta once the sun goes down, and almost way too much to do when it comes up. After a cup of tinto and some fresh orange juice to get the day started, I caught a minibus ten minutes north through a windy road to the small fishing village of Taganga, known as a laid-back fishing village and as a jumping-off point to get to one of the best beaches in the area.

After a failed attempt along a foot path to try to reach Playa Grande, I backtracked to the village and hired a boat, which ended up being a good decision anyways because there’s not much coral at Playa Grande and the boat I rented took me to an outcove further away from the beach with some amazing coral. I have no idea of the names of fish, but I saw fish with black and white stripes, giant purple fish the size of a dinner plate, and those trumpet fish that are long and thin and have a huge nose (maybe they’re called trumpet fish? I have no idea). I would make a horrible scientist.

By noon I was able to head back to Santa Marta and took the unexpectedly long trip to Cartagena via Baranquilla, which is where I am today, somewhat wet, really tired, and looking forward to checking out the town.

Posted on November 27, 2008 by Matt Stabile