We loved Isla San Andrés. It belongs to Colombia, as does Isla Providencia, even though both islands are quite far from the Colombian mainland. We had a great time there. Ed learned how to do kite-surfing there.

"From the San Blas Islands, Daisy and I sailed north 200 miles to the beautiful Colombian island of San Andrés. There, we spent over two weeks, enjoying the amenities of this Colombian paradise. This island surprised us and then some. Even though you can find almost everything there, the setting is a turquoise crystal-clear sandy tropical anchorage right off the Club Nautico de San Andres, a beautiful yacht club with all the facilities. You can join the club while you are there for $15US/a week. The island is surrounded by attractive tropic reefs, perfect for snorkeling and scuba diving. The tampiqueña regional food from Colombia is best sampled at the La Fonda restaurant, which is strategically located right on the north end of the beach. You can have inexpensive beans with rice and pork, Colombiana beer, and patacones, fried plantons, while admiring the kite-surfing aficionados just 100 feet away, making their tacks and dare-devil jumps. You can get good provisioning here, and fuel is inexpensive at Nene's Marina. It's easier to jerry jug the fuel, although it is possible to come to their dock, if it is free, and the wind is not howling."

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Inspired by the excellent instruction at the Aquarium hotel nearby, I took four kite-surfing lessons, and managed to sail away for a considerable distance a few times. Needless to say, we are going to have to procure a kite and board to kite-surf in Coco Plum Beach, Marathon, when the wind blows.

Check in and out of San Andres was painless. You need an agent in San Andres. We strongly recommend Rene Cardona, and his one-man agency, Serrana. Call him on Channel 16 VHF, or reach him at rcardona@sol.net.co. For a fee of $40US, he will arrange for the necessary officials to meet you at the yacht club for check-in. Rene was extremely helpful, and became a personal friend of ours and of many of the cruisers. Check out is included in this fee.

San Andres is a duty-free port, so certain things can be purchased there at good values. Perfumes are one example. There are many fine restaurants to choose from, at all price levels. The buffet at the nearby ultra-modern, huge Sunrise Hotel was very good. This hotel used to be owned by the drug traffic folk, but was expropriated and is now operated by the Colombian government.

We rented a motorcycle to tour the island, which was scenic and interesting."

For cruisers: The entrance to San Andres harbor, on the NE of the island, is well marked, with a sea buoy, and several pairs of red/green buoys, well-lit at night, leading to the commercial harbor, where you can anchor among fishing boats. A far better and safer anchorage, across the green-roofed Club Nautico, reachable only in daytime, requires additional information, which we did not find in any of our guides.

Once you are past the last set of green/red pair buoys, there will be a number of large fuel storage tanks to port, labeled Texaco. At the midpoint of these tanks, about 100 yards, marked by a small red floating buoy to port near the seawall, one must make a sharp 90 degree turn to starboard, heading on a rhumb line from there to a sunken ship on the reef, which looks like a very conspicuous dark brown dome. One heads on this course, past the shallows to port, in 11 ft of water, until one can make the turn to port and head directly for the anchorage in front of the dark green roofed Club Nautico, a bit past the huge mega hotel Sunrise. If you arrive at night, anchor by the fishing boats until daylight.

We wanted to also visit the quaint and more primitive Colombian Isla Providencia, 50 miles NNE of San Andres, but the weather did not permit it. After two weeks of waiting for weather, we decided to bypass Providencia, and head directly for Guanaja, Honduras, a 410 mile passage taking three nights.