San Andrés - Island paradise?

Welcome to the beautiful Caribbean island of San Andrés! We were both very excited for San Andrés especially because Johanna had never been to the Caribbean!
We were so happy to spend some time at the beach just to relax! BUT the first day we thought about taking bikes around the island because we thought it would be more convenient.. well it was not exactly what we expected! San Andrés actually contains come hills which is also represented by their different city parts with names like San Francisco for instance. But it was nice to feel the wind in your hair and the weather was perfect. Maybe a little hot sometimes but that also the reason why we rewarded ourselves with the evening at the beach. The next day we spend more time at the beach just enjoying the water and the quietness and tanning of course.
The main purpose of the trip was however to celebrate Johanna’s birthday in the Caribbean as you only turn 30 once. So I actually surprised her with this trip!
We then decided to fly into her birthday and booked a parasailing experience over the shore of San Andrés! What a remarkable experience.. nothing for people who are afraid of hights. We were okay however we still got down with a parachute a little shaky. Having experienced this once in my life in New Jersey I can definitely say that you get much more scared when time passes. I was so much more courageous or let me say more naiv when I was at the beginning of my 20s :D
We had some small and intimate birthday celebrations and the hotel we stayed at even organized a birthday surprise which was amazing!
The last day we decided to do something that most people do in San Andres! We wanted to have a look at fish in the open sea. So we booked a snuba diving class which is an experience in between snorkeling and scuba diving. In this case you can even dive 5 meters deep if you want to. But the experience was not at all what I expected! The diving instruction was poor and we had to wait so much to finally be able to dive. Then they went down with me so quickly that my ears could not handle the pressure and I suffered a third degree barotrauma. And when my gut feeling told me I have to go see a doctor at the hospital they still did not take it seriously and made fun of me even though I had the worst pain I ever experienced in my life!
Well so the last day Johanna and I spend time in the hospital where they then helped me find a ear specialist in the island! Yes there is actually one!
I went there the next day and he definitely confirmed that I have a barotrauma due to the quick and high pressure under water. Luckily I did not dive any deeper.. this could have been worse. And luckily the doctor also allowed me to fly to Cartagena the next day where I will now rest and recover before I will start my journey to Panama with the sailing boat. So excited for this! But lesson learned I think scuba diving and diving in general is not meant for me and i feel so grateful and lucky again that my eardrum did not explode despite the fact that bloodvessels were broken..Read more