Anchoring:
The anchoring area is either side of Nene's Marina in approx. 12-20 feet. There is quite good protection, however, if winds reach 20+ knots from the East or SE it will get a bit bumpy. The anchorage can get very busy in the afternoons with jet skis and taxi boats - Providencia is quieter.
An alternative anchorage is north-east of Cotton Cay, just off the San Andres Yacht Club (12°34.67N 81°41.55W). To reach it you must go round to the south of Cotton Cay.
Getting Ashore:
The whole port area has been re-developed. There is now a very large "U" shaped public dock just east of the marina which services all the tourist boats. They use the inside portion of the "U" leaving the outside sections for dinghies to tie to. There are heavy bollards and hooks to tie to and security at night. Rubbish can be left turning left off the dock in front of the jet ski area. It gets collected at night.
The dinghy dock fee for long term users is now $40.00 per month at Nenes Marina.
Provisioning here is easy and cheap for the Caribbean. Most stores will change your U.S. dollars.
Last updated: March 2024
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Agent Julian Watson NOT recommended
We change our agent for the departure. With Julian Watson we missed a weather window twice. He did not respond to messages / calls, lied to us (system was not working properly, but it worked fine with another agent) and made empty promises. It is more than questionable why he is allowed to work as an agent.
Our recommendation: Use René as your agent. We have only heard good things about him so far.
Note that all of the Colombian banks have offices here and ATM machines that accept foreign debit and credit cards paying out in COP (Colombian Pesos) at a rate close to what you would see on http://finance.yahoo.com/. The symbol is “cop=x”.
Near Bancolombia you can find guys on the street exchanging USD and EUR for COP and vice-versa.
February 10, 2018
While our normal cruising area is Kuna Yala we have taken a break every three years and have made four trips up to San Andres Isla and will be going again this year.
We always look forward to seeing the smiling face of Rene Cadron, Agent, greeting us on arrival. We use and recommend his excellent clearing in service and he speaks English. Contact information for Rene are: VHF 16, Serrana_agencia@hotmail.com and his cell/Whatsapp is (57) 315 680 7980.
Clearing in/out is $70 and a tourist card is $38/person as of February 10, 2018. Rene says that the previous post of $40 for his services was incorrect.
Rene takes care of your clearing in and out with Aduana (Customs) at the airport himself and he organizes Immigration meeting you at Nene’s Marina to do the formalities.
Besides checking in services Rene has gotten us Yacht in Transit clearing documents from the Port Captain for cargo shipped in on the excellent and inexpensive weekly ocean shipment from Miami, permission to leave San Andres Isla and visit the Cayo Bolivar group of Islands and return and documents from Aduna so that a crew member can fly out and return without a return ticket.
San Andres Isla is a great place to visit and spend time as written in the previous post.
Allen
SV Honalee
Kuna Yala, Panama
Jan 2018.
The entrance and channel are straightforward and very well marked. You could easily come in at night, and if you are not wanting to anchor by the marina at night, you have a vast area of open spaces to anchor outside the marked channel until daylight. The anchoring area is on either side of Nene’s Marina, a tiny little thing but the channel directly in front and running parallel with the beach is 12-20 feet deep.
The marina has a Texaco gas station as part of it and diesel is available from a small adjunct of a dock to the west side of the marina. Diesel currently is 3.35 U.S. a gallon, the cheapest anywhere I’ve seen in over a year anywhere.
Clearing in you can call Rene Cadron on vhf16 16. Remember 12:00-2:00 everything is closed. Rene’s email is Serrana_agencia@hotmail.com.
The email given here in another post is incorrect and Rene asked me to let everyone know as much. His phone number is (57) 315 680 7980
I was charged 40.00 dollars for clearing in and out and paid on departure.
I was previously in Providencia and already had a tourist card so I don’t know what the fees would be for an initial clearance.
The entire area is under revitalization and is looking marvellous. There is now a huge public dock that is just east of the marina and services all the tourist boats. It is a u shape and the tourist boats use the inside portion, so if you are dinghing ashore just tie up on the outside sections. There are heavy bollards and hooks to tie to, security at night and the dock is 10 feet wide.
For garbage, turn left off the dock and walk down 20 yards and place your garbage off the strand in front of the jet skis. There is no container but the garbage gets picked up at night.
For provisioning, this is the place to do it.
There are no better prices in the Caribbean than here to take full advantage if you’re heading up to Caymans or Jamaica or Haiti.
To get to Super Todos, Supermercado, go left after leaving the dock to the traffic light, walk up to the first Street and go right and it’s down two blocks on the right.
It’s new, it’s well stocked and it has wines and liquors.
For shopping, it will take you weeks to go through all the stores.
I suggest going after the sun goes down as the whole area comes alive in the coolness of the evening. Turn right off the dock and a few blocks down are sidewalk cafes and artists open-air market.
If you keep walking down past the DeCameron Delphine, the whole area turns into a pedestrian mall, beach, restaurants and mega stores specializing in everything from perfumes to cigars to clothing etc.
The strand runs for miles in these parts and you could spend hours just people watching. The Internet is accessible on the strand.
Most stores will change your U.S. dollars. If you strike out keep asking.
Banks are not interested in exchanging money. There is a western union but it’s always busy and the wait long. Current exchange is 2700.00 to 1.
I used Julian Watson from Agenport as my clearance agent. I cannot say enough great things about Julian. He speaks great English, answers all e-mails quickly, he met me at the wharf on arrival to sort the clearance and even showed me around town on his scooter to get my bearings. He was always on time and never kept me waiting. He also organised good tradesmen for work that I required onboard and even stayed for translation as my Spanish is minimum.
He is professional and does all this with a big smile on his face. Thanks, Julian, we couldn’t have achieved what we did without you. I would highly recommend Julian and will definitely be using him again.
E-mail: julian.jwm@gmail.com
Ph: 3204899772
VHF: 16