5 Bay National Reserve, Columbia

On the way to Santa Marta we decided to stop in one of the 5 bays in the national reserve as we heard it was beautiful and remote. WE ARE SO GLAD WE DID!

The bay where we anchored was surrounded by the Sierra Nevada Mountains and it was absolutely breathtaking! When we arrived, there was only one other boat anchored there and we immediately recognized it from cruisers we had met in Bonaire. Once settled we ventured to the beach to give Bella a run and re-united with our fellow cruisers from England, Jack and Izzy! 

The following days we incredibly relaxing taking in all the beautiful scenery. We met a local man on the beach who invited us over to his place to check it out. As you can see from the pictures, he had a beautiful place right on the sea with a gorgeous view. He spoke no english at all so this gave us a chance to flex our Spanish that we had been learning. At one point he expressed interest in Steve's soccer jersey and it was decided that they would do a straight up trade for the one the man had on! He took us for a trekking tour in the jungle to show us some ancint ruins from when Columbus had discovered these lands. He also explained the simple daily way of the people who lived here and how limited their supplies were. The man ended up liking Bella very much with her kind personality and tricks. He said he would love a picture of her but had no way to get it as he didn't have email.

Once back at the boat we were able to use our friends printer to get a picture of Bella for the man and collected several cans to give to him as a gift. The next morning before leaving, we went there to present him the gifts and he was overjoyed!! We said our goodbyes and off we went however we will never forget the man in the 5 bays...