All photos on this site are copyright Sue Clark or used with permission of Holland America. No other use permitted.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Isla Providencia, Colombia



Isla Providencia is exactly what a Caribbean Island should be - unspoiled by tourist stuff! There are 5000 inhabitants and they get about 15,000 visitors a year. You can tell that they are working hard to increase tourism as they have built a beautiful walkway with many sitting areas all along the coast and then up and over a hill and down to a small beach area. The Captain said that we are the largest ship to have ever visited this island. The tender ride was about 2 miles as there is a large reef that the ships cannot cross. Although we didn’t plan for any beach or snorkeling days on this trip… this would have been a perfect stop. I was sorry I hadn’t worn my swimsuit under my clothes. I did take off my shoes and roll up my pant legs and wade a bit - it felt so wonderful I had serious thoughts of just dunking and swimming in my clothes, but I did resist as I didn’t want to be wet the rest of the day.


Today (Wednesday) we will be in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownJanuary 20, 2010 at 7:33 AM

    Sue,
    Thanks for doing this blog. My husband and I, here in ice-covered Iowa, are so enjoying cruising along through your pictures and stories! I look forward to it every evening!
    Pam

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  2. UnknownJanuary 26, 2010 at 8:20 PM

    Hi Sue,

    I watched your cruise ship's arrival with great interest here in Providencia the other day. It's a real shame that no excursions were offered to you - Providencia is one of the most unspoilt, untouched and beautiful islands in the Caribbean. We couldn't quite understand why none of the new hordes of tourists wanted to see any of the island - clearly your advisers on the boat were extremely un-informed. That was a real shame - you all came and left, and the locals all wondered why there's any point in receiving such huge cruise ships. In reality there's no point for the island - and I think your boatload of tourists convinced almost everyone that there's no point in having cruises stop by here..... Most people have to pay $20 per person for a tourist card to visit here - the 700 of you guys for some reason were an exception. I hope we don't see any other cruises here in the future - it's an ir-responsible form of tourism, and leaves no benefit for the islanders, many of whom are very poor. Do pass my message on to your boat captain / organizers.

    Chris
    A Brit living on Providencia
    www.paisatours.com

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