Some of you probably know how crazy I am for islands – especially with beautiful blue colors. I was doing some research recently and located this small island called San Andres. You have to know where it is on the map to look for it. It is tiny. But the waters around it looked great.

Next stage was to start looking for how to get there. And what kind of hotels might be there. Was thinking about spending the anniversary day there. At about this time, I came across a New York Times article that proclaimed “You have not seen blue till you have seen San Andres!”. Apparently, you can see seven colors of blue there.

That is all I needed. Quickly bought COPA tickets to get there. It is very small (it cannot hold three runways end to end) and is off the coast of Nicaragua. But for some historical reasons, it actually belongs to Colombia.

Sounds like an adventure alright!

Admittedly, I am flying Copa Airlines for the first time. Our flight to the island was at 7:23. Got up very early and reached the airport by 5am. The first thing that hit me is this board.

I was stunned to find out that Copa Airlines has 23 flights leaving in 27 minutes. That is quite some frequency.

BTW, the checking in was smooth, the security was a breeze and the seats have really, really good leg space. We were up in the front and for a 50 minute flight, you could lift up your leg with the footrest and all that! Very impressed with the airlines.

This is from the plane a few minutes before we landed. I can already see a few of the seven colors of blue that I was promised!

Our room was not ready. To be fair, we showed up at 9am at the hotel.

Not to dissuaded, we picked up the golf cart that we had reserved after quite some effort in gesticulating and less than honorable Spanish (nobody understands English here) and decide to go all around the island.

Some of the blue colors promised by New York Times is stating to show up

It used to be that you could simply wade and then swim over to that Caye. The shipwreck is a bit more unnavigable. But apparently now you are now allowed to do that. You can simply take a boat. We are not getting into the water today. That is for tomorrow.

not to lift your legs up and get a margarita!

As we hit the southern side of the island, the water started becoming a bit darker in blue in color. And the sand in the beach was replaced by the sharp edges of the reefs.

They are either listening to loud music on the streets, at the street corners, on the beach, even on their own patio. Or they are singing on the streets. This gentleman was having the time of his life crooning by the street

The whole place was booming with life. The merriments went well into the wee hours. Kids were running around, having ice cream, playing soccer… adults were laughing chatting and in general just making a day out of it.

The elderly local was singing (very well too) all by himself and a tourist came along and started giving him rhythm

Today’s adventures will be all in the waters

As a reference, the island is surrounded by a waterbody known as the Sea of Seven Colors.

The blue color surrounding the island is mind blowing

We were in the boat headed out of Johnny Cay. There was one large area where the water was greenish blue. It was all sand below (as opposed to sea grass or reef or rocks – which is part of the reason why water colors vary) and about 3 feet deep. We anchored the boat and jumped into the water. Hung around there with music blasting from the boat for about 45 minutes.

Third destination – check out the mangroves and the clams that cling on to the roots

This was on the wall of a big, abandoned building in the mangroves. Apparently, this used to be a power generation plant. This artist – @Jota_Art is the Insta handle – has paintings all over the island. Very talented!

But before that, another riot of blue on the way there

It is basically a natural aquarium. There are a lot of reefs here. And in between the reefs are all sorts of fish. They are very friendly and will come to you but would not shy away from giving you a small bite if they have to wrest some food away from your hand!

Got back on to the boat from Haynes Cay and headed for another spot in the waters where there is a floating bar! We jumped off the boat (it was about three feet deep) and grabbed a couple of drinks and hung around.

The plane took off northbound and started banking left. You can see the north edge of the island. And then check out all the water colors of the sea

Also belongs to Colombia. We did not have time to visit that island. Perhaps next time.