San Andrés & Providencia

Five hundred kilometers off the coast, Colombia keeps a Caribbean that speaks English Creole and prays in wooden Baptist churches. San Andrés is the capital of the sea of seven colors — a reef, the world's third largest, that turns the water into a sampler of blues — and something deeper besides: home of the Raizal people, who were there before the flags.

The sensible traveller splits the days between the loop around the island — thirty kilometers by golf cart, with a mandatory stop at the Hoyo Soplador —, the cays in the morning before the full boats arrive, and the west side at sunset, where the reef tames the sea for snorkeling. With five days, Providencia: one small plane, one hour, and the Caribbean of fifty years ago.

The Guide says it clearly: the island lives off tourism and is overrun by it all the same — travel in low season and the island will thank you —; fresh water is scarce, so the short shower is respect, not stinginess; and the best rondón is not in the hotel north but in San Luis, where the Raizal kitchens still command.