Guida di Old Providencia, un mare dai sette colori

The history of Old Providencia and San Andrés is different from that of Colombia. In the 17th century, they were colonized by English Puritans who settled there with their slaves. This explains why their inhabitants maintain English as a common but not official language. For many years, pirates and buccaneers searching for Spanish galleons loaded with gold passing through those waters attacked the island. In 1793, England recognized Spain’s sovereignty over the archipelago and later in 1822, the islands joined the state then called Gran Colombia. 
Old Providence or Providencia is a mountainous island of volcanic origin, bordered by white beaches and dotted with tiny peaceful villages. Its satellite island Santa Catalina is connected to the main island by the Lovers’ Bridge. Both are surrounded by a much larger coral reef than that of San Andrés, and by small, solitary beaches rich in mysteries. Pirate treasures may still be hidden in the archipelago’s caves, and stories and legends of buccaneers and damsels linger. The main beaches of Providencia are Aguadulce, Suroeste, and Manzanillo. Aguadulce Bay is the main beach, where small hotels, bungalows, cottages, and small restaurants offering very fresh and delicious fish and seafood dishes are concentrated. In Aguadulce, boats can be rented, diving equipment is available, and snorkeling can be enjoyed. The beaches of Suroeste and Manzanillo, the most beautiful one, are the least crowded, covered with coconut palms, with warm and calm waters of incredible blue shades. At Santa Catalina you should visit the rocky cliff Morgan’s Head (the head of the famous Captain Morgan) and for divers, the underwater cave below. The interior of Providencia is mountainous and lush, with many trails leading up to El Pico from where you can admire the splendid panorama. To best enjoy all the islands and islets and to discover the most hidden beaches, it is necessary to rent a boat. This way you can also tour the Cayos Cercanos. Then there are the Cayos Lejanos like Bolivar, Albunquerque, and the Three Brothers, three nearby rocks, with the main one being Cayo Cangrejo, a place of extraordinary beauty where, climbing the highest rock, various islands can be admired. All the atolls are surrounded by abundant marine life and beautiful coral seabeds. The 5000 inhabitants have a very strict zoning plan and the island has not been spoiled by construction as the inhabitants have refused the building of villages or large hotels for eco-sustainable tourism.
No one can imagine the seabeds of these sites. Used as we are to hearing about other places in the world, it seems incredible, in an era when it is thought all famous diving sites are known, to discover that here are superb and unknown seabeds and that we are in the third largest coral reef in the world. When Colombians say “a sea of seven colors,” they do not exaggerate at all. There are sponges so large that a child can even enter inside, this in the sponge valley. In the Blue Valley at about 30 meters, a sheer wall opens suddenly with every type of gorgonian, and at about 80 meters depth a cave with sharks. For those searching for wrecks, there is also a sunken Spanish galleon. In 2000, UNESCO declared the archipelago of San Andrés, Old Providencia, and Santa Catalina as a new World Biosphere Reserve, called “SEAFLOWER.” The protected archipelago includes three small inhabited islands, several cayos, coral banks, atolls, an insular area of 57 sq km, and a marine area of 300,000 sq km, which amounts to about 10% of the Caribbean Sea.
Romantic Weddings: presenting a passport, you can get married on the two main islands, in front of a notary, judge, or priest. Local agencies take care of everything, party, flowers, cake, and additional activities.
Festivals and Folklore: on the island of Providencia in the last week of June, the Culture Festival is held. Additionally, July 20, August 7, the Green Moon Festival, and October 12 are celebrated. Music is the inspiring muse of the islanders. The costumes and traditions of the islands amazingly reflect their European origins along with African-Caribbean influences. The traditions most strongly respected are culinary, dance, and music, as seen in the folklore festival held in the last week of June and other events throughout the year. The dancers, in traditional costumes, dance waltzes, quadrilles, schottisches or scotis, and mazurkas accompanied by violins, mandolins, guitars, accordions, and other typical instruments. Caribbean music influences are felt with Mento rhythms (acoustic music, a fusion of African and European song rhythms) of the Antilles, Trinidad’s calypso (which uses traditional metal drums made from recycled oil barrels), and Jamaican Reggae.
Horse races on the beach, on Saturday
At Cayo Cangrejo, an islet in the center of the reserve, which you will reach by boat that will stop to allow everyone to swim and admire turtles and much more, don’t forget to eat the fish bowls, fish balls made by local women, divine. And equally the fantastic tropical fruit juices.
Curiosities: between May and June the crab migration occurs, and there are so many that sometimes roads near the beaches are temporarily closed to ensure their crossing.