The short answer
Yes, if what you want is warm water and quiet within twenty minutes of Cartagena. No, if you came to Colombia for the whitest sand in the Caribbean or for a night out you can walk home from. We live on Tierra Bomba, so we're hardly neutral, but we'd rather tell you now than have you arrive disappointed.
Tierra Bomba is the island directly across the bay from the city. The crossing is a boat ride of about twenty minutes, which is the single most important fact about the place: everything else follows from being close enough to come for lunch. The Rosario Islands, the ones in the photographs, are considerably further out and eat most of a day in transit.
What's actually on the island
Bocachica village. A working Afro-Colombian fishing village at the southern end of the island, reachable from us in about five minutes on the back of a motorbike taxi. This is not a tourist reconstruction, it's where islanders live, and the reason to go is to walk it with someone who knows people rather than wander in and photograph strangers. We run a village tour on foot that ends with beers with locals, which is the right order to do things in.
Fuerte de San Fernando. The Spanish fort that guarded the Bocachica channel, the narrow mouth the whole colonial city depended on. It's the serious piece of history on the island and it's part of our village tour. Go in the morning. There is not much shade in a fort.
Fuerte del Ángel San Rafael. The walk up to it gives you the best view on the island, across the channel and back at Cartagena's skyline. We pair that walk with a session cooking traditional Bocachica sweets alongside our Foundation, which is a better afternoon than it sounds on paper.
Playa Mamón. The beach right outside our main gate, so the one you'll actually swim off if you stay or spend a day with us. Eight minutes' swim out from our own stretch of sand is a coral-rich reef, shallow enough to snorkel and the same reef our dive centre teaches beginners on.
What there is to do, priced
We're a hotel and a beach club, so this list is ours rather than the island's, but it's the honest answer to "what would I do all day".
- Lie down properly. A VIP daybed in front of the pool is $50. A beach cabaña, quieter and nearer the sand, is $30. The Beach Club page carries the current prices.
- Dive without being a diver. Our House Reef Discovery Dive is $90 and runs 2 to 3 hours, beginners included, no certificate required. A Discovery Day at $140 adds a boat and two dives at separate sites.
- Ride the island. Pillion on our moto-tour across Tierra Bomba to Bocachica and the viewpoints, or up to an hour of mountain biking on the trails with a private motorbike escort. Do the biking early, before the sun is properly up.
- Learn something with your hands. A private dance class in salsa, champeta or zumba, two left feet expressly welcome. Or turn a wine or gin bottle into a glass or a candle with one of our artisans, trained by Green Apple.
- See how the place runs. Our back of house sustainability tour walks you through what actually happens here. The fee is a donation to our impact fund, and we offer it because the cure for greenwashing is being shown around.
Who should skip it
If you have one day near Cartagena and you want the bluest water you've ever swum in, go to the Rosario Islands instead. White sand, a coconut passed over from a canoe, lobster. We run a private speedboat out there ourselves and we'd still tell you it's the better call for that specific wish.
If your trip is about eating and dancing your way through the old city, base yourself there. Coming back across the water at 2am is not a thing, and you'd spend the good hours in transit.
And if you want everything on tap at all hours, this is an island. Things run at island speed. That's the feature, but it's also not for everybody.
How to do it, practically
Most people we host split the trip: a couple of nights in town for the Walled City and Getsemaní, then a couple of nights out here, or a straightforward day trip in one direction. Either works. What doesn't work is planning the day from lunch backwards and discovering the boat timetable afterwards, so check the crossing times first and build around them.
Bring your own towel. Our website and confirmation emails have said different things about this in the past, and the policy is that you bring one.
If you're deciding between us and the Rosarios for a single day out of Cartagena, we've written that comparison out properly elsewhere rather than pretending there's one right answer.