Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Cartagena is a major port on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It was founded in1533 by a Spanish explorer who chose a location that was easily defended and well-suited for maritime trade. However, it is known that various indigenous peoples have lived in this region since at least 4000 BCE.
The city now has a population of around 900,000, making it the 5th largest city in Colombia. Cartagena’s economy is driven by industry, tourism, and commerce. Major exports include petrochemicals, industrial goods such as cement and fertilizer, and agricultural products including tuna, coffee, and produce. Historically, the city was known for exporting gold and silver and as a hub for the slave trade.
For 200 years, the Spanish Inquisition maintained an Office in Cartagena and sentences were pronounced in the main city plaza. Las Bóvedas, a former dungeon, still stands in the Old Town. It is now a craft market and tourists are routinely brought to this area, where they are immediately surrounded by clamoring vendors, who are annoying, but are just trying to make a living.
We have been on a number of tours of Cartagena’s Old town on previous visits, as well as a canoe tour in a mangrove swamp in the bay. It’s usually extremely hot in this region and it has been a relief when prior tours ended. Today we just don’t feel an impulse to leave the port area, although the temperature is more moderate today, with rain showers in the morning. All aboard is at 1:30p.m. and we always try to be back on board well before the deadline because the last thing you want to do is miss the ship. We will stay very close to the ship today.
Right inside the port entrance is a delightful place called Port Oasis Eco-Park. It is about a 10-minute walk from the ship, and it is free. The Eco-Park features splendid tropical birds, as well as some reptiles and mammals.
The flamingos are so much fun to watch. Their knees bend bcskwards when they walk and they put their heads upside down on the ground when they want to eat or drink. They had been given ripe papayas to eat.
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| Did you see the peacock in the tree? |
Tortoises
A proud little toucan
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| That beak doesn’t seem real |
Slow-moving sloths
By the time we were ready to depart at 1:30 p.m., the weather had gotten very nice. Despite the sunshine, the Captain came on the ships’ PA system and announced that the weather forecast for our next port, three days from now, did not look good. But he was cautiously optimistic that the outlook would improve by the time we got there.
As we sailed out of the beautiful harbor we got a look at the Virgin Mary, pelicans, tugboats, tankers, an old convent, a lighthouse, and the newer parts of Cartagena, sparkling in the sunshine.
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| La Popa Convent |
At the mouth of the bay, the pilot boat came to pick up our pilot, as we imagined the Spanish soldiers who might have watched other ships depart as they patrolled in a nearby fort.
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| Adios, Cartagena! |
As soon as we left the bay at Cartagena yesterday, the water became very rough. It was windy, and being in an aft cabin magnifies the movement we felt. It was hard to move about in the cabin. The wind outside was howling.
While we didn’t get seasick, it was too rough to stay in our cabin. With seasickness, you have to be very proactive. Once you start feeling seasick, you will be entering an unstoppable downward spiral. We took Bonine, which works very well, without causing drowsiness, and I also put on my wristbands. If you wait until you start feeling queasy to put them on, they will not work.
Our dinner tonight was at Canaletto, HAL’s Italian specialty restaurant. TBH, it was just “meh”. The standout dish of the evening was a wonderful bread and olive tray that came shortly after we were seated. I will also put in a good word for the affogato - ice cream with a shot of hot espresso poured over it. Eat it quickly!
Today’s fabric is Feathers Lime by Kaffe Fassett Collective Classics Plus for FreeSpirit Fabrics.
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