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Providencia is a mountainous Caribbean island part of Colombia, lying midway between Costa Rica and Jamaica. Providencia's maximum elevation is 360 metres above sea level. The smaller Santa Catalina Island to the northwest is connected by a 100 metres footbridge to its larger sister Providencia Island. Providencia Island has 17 square kilometers, and the two islands cover an area of 22 square kilometres and form the municipality with a population of 4,927.
The island was the site of an English Puritan colony established in 1629 by the Providence Island Company, and was briefly taken by Spain in 1641. The pirate Henry Morgan used Providencia as a base for raiding the Spanish empire, and rumours suggest that much of his treasure remains hidden on the island. Many parts of the island are named after Morgan. Forts and cannons dating back hundreds of years can be found scattered all over Santa Catalina Island.
There is only one road on the island. We were taken in pick-up trucks to a beach at the far end of the island from the town. From there we headed up a track that may have been easy on a good day, but, when we walked it, there had just been rains and we were walking uphill, up a small river. The local guide was reasonably good at conveying information about what we were seeing along the way. But he did not really understand that he had about 20 people in the group. So the only way to get his little gems was to stick fairly close to him. The path passed a couple of abandoned farms, and eventually reached an open space at the top of the hill: from there it dropped quite steeply back to another beach. Chris found the descent even more daunting than the ascent, but managed it.
We came out onto a lovely beach with a genuine local bar, where we were supplied with cold beers. As a non beer drinker, I found these beers fantastic after the hike in the tropical heat and humidity.
Click on any of the thumbnails to get a bigger version of the picture
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And in the afternoon we wandered off by ourselves to Santa Catalina Island. Today you can see some remains from 17th-century English rule at Fort Warwick. It is adjacent to a big rock called Morgan’s Head. If you look hard enough, it resembles the head of Henry Morgan, the notorious Welsh pirate who marauded the Spanish New World colonies during the mid-17th century Morgan captured Santa Catalina from the Spaniards in 1670. We in fact opted out of the final bit of the walk to Morgans Head as the proper path just ran out and the unmade path had suffered from the degradations of recent rain
Morgan’s Head is next to Morgan’s Cave (which we did reach), where the pirate supposedly hid his loot. We passed Morgans Cave, next to a small beach, but never saw the treasure.
Click on any of the thumbnails to get a bigger version of the picture
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