Stupid Rosario Islands

"The island. The island brought us here. This is no ordinary place, you've seen that, I know you have. But the island chose you, too, [Lani]. It's destiny." -LOST

Somehow I keep ending up at the Rosario Islands off the coast of Cartagena. People are always telling me how lovely they are and asking me if I’ve been. I always respond, “More times than I ever wanted!”

No, they really are beautiful islands; the water is turquoise, blue, and green, crystal clean and filled with coral and animals. The islands are green and speckled throughout the water with birds circling over them constantly. They have an aquarium, although it is not that spectacular.

The first time I went to the islands, I went with a friend and we had planned on just going to Play Blanca (a beautiful beach on one of the islands) because that was cheaper. But then we ran into a friend of hers and he invited us to the islands as well. It was very fun, but I fell in love with Play Blanca and decided that whenever anyone came to visit, I would just take them there for a nice, relaxing beach day.

When my family came to visit I decided that Playa Blanca was one of the things we had to do. I tried to be clear with the man who was selling us tickets that we only wanted to go to Playa Blanca, and he kept saying, “Yes, this boat goes to Playa Blanca!” So we bought the tickets and boarded. I was pretty frustrated when I learned that the boat did indeed go to Playa Blanca, but first made a stop at the Rosario Islands. We spent some time on the islands and finally made it to Playa Blanca by mid-afternoon, not exactly what I wanted, but we still had a good time. And I learned my lesson to listen very carefully to exactly how they phrase their selling pitches.

Recently, my friend Erin came to visit me. Again, I thought it would be great to take her on a relaxing beach day. So we went to the docks and began our very careful search for a boat that would take us only to Playa Blanca.

The first man that accosted us tried to get us to go on the same boat that I took my family on. I told him a firm no, so he found his friend who assured me two hundred times that we would only be going to Playa Blanca directly, with no stops at the Islands, and if we ended up at the Islands he would be in big trouble. I was very pleased with this. After waiting an hour and a half for the boat to leave, we were finally on our way. Erin and I were very pleased with the boat ride over (a small boat that jetted across the big waves, bouncing us all around… very fun for two people who don't get motion sickness!)

And then suddenly, we were at those damn Islands! I was so frustrated and so confused! The man had assured me that I would not have to see them, yet here I was. After we docked, I talked to the driver and he told me that he had no idea we wanted to only go to Playa Blanca. He asked me why I didn’t stop him while we were passing the island with the beach. I was aghast! How was I supposed to know which island has Playa Blanca? I talked to the guide on the boat and he said the same thing, “Nobody told me that you wanted to go directly to Playa Blanca.” So he called the person we bought the tickets from and she assured him that she had told him that there were two girls who had to be dropped off first at Playa Blanca. But the guy wouldn’t admit he messed up and he avoided us for the rest of the day.

After feeling fairly pissed off for a few moments, Erin and I decided to make the best of it and took a dip in the beach on the island we landed on (it can hardly even be called a beach in comparison to Playa Blanca, but the water is nice and refreshing and so beautiful.) We finally made it over to Playa Blanca about mid afternoon again and were able to spend a couple relaxing hours napping, reading, and splashing around in the water.

Now all I can do is laugh about it. I am fairly sure I will never find a way to go directly to Playa Blanca. I mean, “ The island choose [me]. It’s destiny.”