San Andres Island, Decameron Marazul, February 16-23 2006 Patrick and Tammy, Ontario early 30’s, love outdoors, getting off the resort
Flew Air Transat from Toronto to San Andres, we left about an hour behind schedule ( 0720 hrs )due to freezing rain. Good flight, the airport in San Andres is small and a little unorganized. Got through airport in about an hour and got a taxi ( provided by resort ) to the resort which is about a 10 minute ride. Had to wait till 1500 hrs to get in our room, but got our bracelets right away.
Pool:
1 pool with wading area and swimming area, nice pool, water volleyball, relatively small but you never felt crowded, you could get a spot at the pool at any time of day.
Beach:
Relatively small, rough sand, small swimming area, again not crowded.
Bars:
The pier bar is open 24 hrs! , very nice view out on the water, usually only 1 bartender working so it could get busy at night, 1 other bar near pool open from about 1000-1700hrs and a bar in the lobby Hemmingways was open from about supper time to 2200 hrs, both nice. Luis at Hemmingways made awesome drinks and Marlee at the pier bar was great.
Restaurants:
Buffet was smaller than a normal buffet but still good. The a la carte’s were barbecue which we did not particularly enjoy and the International cuisine which we found to be actually quite good, not a lot of seafood at any of them though. We also went to the Italian a la carte at Aquarium and it was OK and the Japanese at the San Luis which was really good but more Chinese than Japanese.
Room:
We were in room 305, large room, 1 king size and 1 twin bed, table and chairs, big dresser, balcony. Air conditioning was fine until second last day went on the fritz in our building for a few h! ours but we told the staff in the lobby and it was fixed within a few hours. Hot showers were hit and miss if you tried before breakfast or supper. Pay for room safe. There is a fridge but only stocked with water. Small resort but our building was still quiet.
Staff:
All very friendly and spoke GREAT english, a real surprise for a Caribbean country.
Tours: Did the jet skis at the resort $20 for two to ride and follow an employee out around Haines Cay and back, they had a speed regulator on the jet ski, went real slow, still good siteseeing trip. We did the boat trip to Haines Cay and Aquario with Mario, which was free if staying at Marazul, very crowded, neat to see, you can walk from one island to the other in waist deep water, order drinks etc.snokeling is very good, take some bread and the fish go wild. We also did a group night cruise with Mario, he told some history of the island and it was ver! y nice to see things from the water at night. We took a taxi to the diving board on the west side of the island where the snorkeling was incredible, you pay 25 cents to get in and they give you bread for the fish. We took the local bus right outside the resort to town (note there is only 1 town on the island) several times for 1100 pesos( 50 cents ) for shopping. The perfume and liqour were very cheap, name brand clothes etc were normal prices like at home. Jhonny Cay was very hot, good prices for food, drinks, cost $10 to get there with Mario from the resort. Went diving with Werner at Karibik diving in town- great time-see review in scuba diving section.
Also went to a local Restaurant called West View, small and very charming local authentic cuisine, our group were the only tourists there, paid about $30 for a dinner with two lobster tails, rice potatoes.
Resort:
Also had a disco which we did not really check out, opened at 2300hrs and a small casino- about 15 slot machines and a roulette table.
Overall: The locals were very friendly and all spoke remarkably good english. This island was also very safe, we took the local bus and taxis several times during the day and night. Money exchange is bizarre, if you go to a bank you have to give your passport which they photocopy and a fingerprint, we got about 2150 pesos to a US dollar. You could ask a cabbie or just anybody on the street and they would take you to a guy who would give you about 2050 pesos to a dollar. You can take free shuttles to the other Decameron resorts, we went to Aquarium and San Luis and thought the Marazul was nicer, also met people from the other resorts when they came to the Marazul and they seemed to prefer the Marazul.
We have been to Panama, the Mayan Riviera and Sosua in the Dominican Republic in the ! last 2 years and would highly recommend San Andres Island. We feel it matches or exceeds those places.