San Andrés

Why San Andrés Feels Like a Completely Different Country

Landing in San Andrés after spending weeks on mainland Colombia is genuinely disorienting. The music shifts from cumbia and vallenato to reggae and soca. The language on the streets is as likely to be English Creole as Spanish. The food swaps arepas for breadfruit and meat pies. And the water — the water is something else entirely. They call it the Mar de Siete Colores, the Sea of Seven Colors, and I assumed that was marketing hyperbole until I saw it from the air on the approach into the airport. It is not an exaggeration. The shallow banks, coral formations, and shifting sand create bands of colour — turquoise, aquamarine, sapphire, emerald, jade, cobalt, and pale green — that change with the light and the angle and the time of day. I pressed my face against the aircraft window like a child, and I am not even slightly embarrassed about it.

San Andrés is a Colombian island sitting 775 kilometres northwest of the mainland coast, much closer to Nicaragua than to Cartagena. This geographic oddity is the source of its unique character. The Raizal people, the island’s indigenous Afro-Caribbean community, have roots in English-speaking Caribbean culture — their ancestors came from Jamaica, other Caribbean islands, and Africa. Their Creole English, their reggae rhythms, their church traditions, and their cuisine give San Andrés a cultural flavour you will not find anywhere else in Colombia.

The island is small — about 12 kilometres long and 3 kilometres wide — and can be circled by road in under an hour. It is heavily developed on the northern end around the town centre, where duty-free shops, hotels, and restaurants crowd the streets. But the southern half retains a quieter, more local character, especially the coastal community of San Luis with its traditional wooden houses and calm shallow waters.

The Sea of Seven Colors

The water around San Andrés is the star attraction, and it delivers on every promise. The seafloor is a mosaic of coral reefs, sand patches, and seagrass beds that create the colour shifts visible from above. Up close, the snorkelling reveals a thriving underwater world — brain coral, sea fans, parrotfish, angelfish, barracuda, rays, and occasionally nurse sharks in the deeper channels.

Best Spots to See It

The most dramatic views of the seven colours come from boat trips over the shallow banks between San Andrés and the surrounding cays. The Aquarium (El Acuario) and Haynes Cay, a pair of tiny islands connected by a sandbar at low tide, sit in the middle of the most vivid colour gradients. Boats leave from Tonino Marina and the trip takes about 15 minutes. Once there, you can snorkel directly from the sandbar into coral gardens teeming with fish.

From land, West View and La Piscinita on the island’s west coast offer the easiest access to the coloured water. Both are natural pools carved into the rocky shoreline where you can wade, swim, and snorkel without needing a boat. West View (COP 15,000 / ~$4 USD entry) has a jumping platform and fish so abundant they swarm around you the moment you enter the water. La Piscinita next door is slightly smaller and quieter.

Johnny Cay: The Postcard Island

Johnny Cay is a tiny coral islet about 1.5 kilometres north of San Andrés, and it is exactly what you picture when someone says “Caribbean island.” A ring of white sand, a cluster of palm trees, reggae blasting from speakers, and water so clear you can see your toes from chest depth. Boats from the main beach cost COP 50,000 (~$12 USD) round trip and take about ten minutes.

I spent a full day on Johnny Cay and it was one of the most purely enjoyable days of my Colombia trip. There is no agenda here. You swim, you snorkel the reef on the island’s west side, you eat fried fish with coconut rice served on a paper plate, you drink a cold Águila beer in the shade of a palm tree, and you let the reggae soundtrack wash over you. Vendors sell fresh pineapple and mango. Kids play in the shallows. The pace approaches absolute zero, and that is entirely the point.

Go early — the first boats leave around 9 AM, and the island gets progressively more crowded as the day wears on. By midday on weekends and holidays, it can feel packed. Early arrivals get the best spots and the calmest water.

The Island Circuit

One of the best ways to experience San Andrés is to rent a golf cart or scooter and drive the 30-kilometre ring road that circles the island. Golf carts cost around COP 150,000 (~$37 USD) for a full day and are the most popular option — they are slow enough to enjoy the scenery and easy enough that anyone can drive them. Scooters are cheaper but require more caution on the island’s occasionally rough roads.

The Route

Start from the town centre and head south along the western coast. Your first stop should be West View for snorkelling and the jumping platform. Continue south to La Piscinita for more snorkelling in a quieter setting. Further along, the Hoyo Soplador (Blowhole) is a natural geological formation where ocean pressure forces water through a hole in the coral rock, creating a geyser-like spray that can reach several metres high. It is most impressive when the sea is rough and the wind is from the south.

The southern tip of the island is quieter and less developed. Round the bottom and head north along the eastern coast through San Luis, a Raizal community with colourful wooden houses, calm turquoise shallows, and a pace of life that makes the rest of the island feel frantic by comparison. Stop at one of the small restaurants along the waterfront for fried fish and a beer.

Continue north past Rocky Cay, a small rocky islet just offshore that you can wade to at low tide. The water between the shore and the cay is waist-deep, warm, and impossibly clear. Complete the circuit back to the town centre, where you can return the golf cart and celebrate your exploration with a coco loco — a cocktail served in a fresh coconut.