Table of Contents
Captain Oscars Phone Number
+57 314 617 8859
200 000 pesos
Per person one-way. Includes bed and meals
Boat to Bahia Solano
Tuesday and Saturday Afternoon
Return Boat
Wednesday and Saturday Morning
Boat Duration
24 Hours (Weather dependent)
If there’s any way to describe our experience taking the cargo boat from Buenaventura to Bahia Solano and back, it should be described as an adventure. Everything from figuring out where and when it departed to our actual time spent on board proved to be a bit chaotic, but we are definitely glad we did it. Let us warn you now that the cargo boat isn’t for everyone. It’s uncomfortable, long, and somewhat disorganized. However, for those of you on a tight budget with plenty of patience it is a good option to get you to the very worthwhile destination of Bahia Solano. Aside from the great time you’ll have there, the boat itself is sure to become a memorable experience that lies far from the typical tourist itinerary.
In the following post we’ve detailed our own experience taking the cargo boat. We’ve tried to provide as many details as possible since information online tends to be a bit scarce, and we hope that this makes the logistics a bit easier and gives you a better idea of what to expect on board.
Why Take the Cargo Boat to Bahia Solano?
There are only two options when it comes to getting to Bahia Solano. You can either take a boat or fly. The two biggest factors to think about when deciding which option is best for you is time and money.
The cargo boat takes around a whopping 24 hours to complete its journey, give or take a lot depending on conditions. Plus, you have to get yourself to Buenaventura first and you are never really guaranteed that the boat will leave at the anticipated time. On the other hand, the flight from Medellin only takes about an hour! That’s definitely a huge difference.
The boat is significantly cheaper than taking a flight, which is a big part of the reason we chose to sail. At the time of writing the cost of a flight starts at around $130 USD round trip, or 488 727 col pesos. This goes up quite quickly if you have big bags to check too, which we certainly did. So, if you are a longer term traveler with a tight budget and plenty of time, the cargo boat is a good option. If you are short on time with a higher budget, the plane is probably the way to go.
Another factor to consider is the route you plan to take in Colombia. Flights to Bahia Solano depart from Medellin. Some sources online say that flights depart from Bogotá and Cali as well, but these all involve a stop in Medellin anyways. We were in Cali and had already come from Medellin, so heading to Buenaventura to catch the boat made sense.
Finally, when deciding between the boat and the flight you should probably consider the fact that the boat is in many ways less comfortable and convenient, but quite a bit more adventurous. If you’re looking for an off the beaten path experience, this is certainly it. We consider all of the related craziness (which I’ll get into below) to be part of the journey and we don’t regret opting for the boat!
Plus, the boat offers some beautiful views throughout the journey, and you have a pretty good chance of spotting sea life.
Getting to Buenaventura
So you’ve decided to take the boat, now what? The first step is to get to the port town of Buenaventura. The easiest way to do this is to start from Cali, which is what we did. From there it’s quite easy. The bus to Buenaventura departs from the Terminal de Transporte, which if you are coming from other major cities in Colombia like Medellin you’re probably already familiar with.
The bus company to look for is Corridor del Pacifico. The ticket office is a bit tricky to find since it’s located on the outside of the building, through the doors on the second floor. The bus cost 39 500 col pesos each one-way, and we just bought tickets in person rather than online. Departures are super frequent, and there are different sized vehicles available ranging from small vans to larger buses.
The roads are super windy pretty much the whole way, and despite taking gravol I was in bad shape by the end of it, so be prepared for that. About halfway through the drive we stopped at a little roadside shop where they sold snacks and food. The drive took about 3 hours on the way there, but this seems to vary widely depending on traffic because the way back took much longer than that.
The bus takes you right to the main terminal in the touristy part of Buenaventura, but if you want to get off earlier to go to a hotel or something you can just ask the driver.
About Buenaventura
Buenaventura is a decent sized city that acts as the main port for the whole of Colombia’s Pacific Coast. When we arrived, we decided to spend the night at Hotel Dulce Suenos and figure out if we could hunt down a faster, smaller boat to Bahia Solano in the morning. Spoiler alert, we couldn’t find any other boat and had to spend another night in Buenaventura as well. We switched to Hotel Steven, which was pretty much the same thing if not slightly comfier. Both were basic, cheap, and good enough. Buenaventura will have everything you need for stocking up on supplies before the boat. There are larger grocery stores for getting snacks and multiple ATMs (there are no reliable ATMs in Bahia Solano).
As you’ve probably seen if you’ve done any research on the area, Buenaventura doesn’t have a great reputation for safety considering it’s a large port town located in a poorer, more remote area. We had no issues in the two days we spent there, and we actually enjoyed walking around near the waterfront. However, we were careful not to wander far at night, kept an eye out, and pretty much stayed only within the few blocks surrounding the Muelle Turistico. If you are spending a night or two, I would suggest getting an accommodation downtown and not wandering too far.
Organizing the Cargo Boat
We really didn’t do much planning ahead of our trip to Bahia Solano, which resulted in us heading to Buenaventura a couple days before the cargo boat departed. However, we had been told that there are smaller, faster, and more expensive boats that can take you to Buenaventura as well. So, the morning after we arrived in Buenaventura we headed to the main tourist port downtown to try and track one down. After a lot of asking around we couldn’t find anything, so we can’t really confirm how viable this option is. I will say that after a slightly harrowing whale watching tour in Bahia Solano I’m not sure if I’d be brave enough to take a small boat all the way there on those choppy waters. We were later given the following details though if you’d like to give it a try:
Price: 270 000 COP
Duration: 7 hours
Contact (Captain Condorito): +57 311 385 0444
We had been communicating via WhatsApp with a cargo boat captain who told us there may be a ship departing the next day, “god willing”. This really didn’t sound too promising. Luckily our trip to the main pier wasn’t totally useless, because someone did tell us where we could buy tickets to the cargo boat in person. When we got to the office we were able to get a confirmation that there was indeed a boat tomorrow, hooray!
The ticket office is located in the same place where the boat departs from, which is here. Look for the big green gates. If they are closed when you get there just knock and someone will let you in. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but this is the spot. Once you’re inside they’ll lead you upstairs to a little office where you can pay. You’ll have to give your information and passport number. This port is a bit outside the touristy area of town, and we’d recommend getting a ride there. Taxis from downtown cost around 12 000 COP. You can also catch one of the shared jeeps heading that way, which costs around 2600 COP.
The boat cost 200 000 COP per person each way. Departures from Buenaventura usually happen on Tuesdays and Saturdays, we departed on Saturday. Clearly, departure times and dates are flexible and weather dependent. Online we’ve seen various sources describing how the boat only leaves once a week on different days depending on where you look. However, we found that this seems to vary by demand as we were told of more possible departures the week we arrived. So, we would recommend messaging Captain Oscar directly for details and showing up to the office in person to secure your tickets (see top of article for Oscar’s #). Even after you’ve been told a departure time this is subject to change, so there’s really no way of knowing for sure until you’re there.
After we got our tickets on Friday, the staff told us to arrive back at the port around 1pm on Saturday, a little before the actual estimated departure time. The boat actually departed closer to 5pm though, so be prepared to wait while they load up all the cargo. Thankfully there was a bit of a waiting area at the port with some chairs, a few enormous friendly dogs for company, and even a lady selling ice cream.
Getting Back to Buenaventura
After securing our ride to Bahia Solano, the next thing to think about was how we were going to get back. We were told that there would be return trips on Wednesday and the following Saturday. As with the boats leaving Buenaventura, I would definitely recommend confirming departure days in person since this is subject to change. The Wednesday boat would have only given us a few days to spend in Bahia Solano, and given the long journey there and back plus all of the wonderful things to do in El Valle we opted for the Saturday boat. This gave us about a full week there, and if you want to hear about how we spent it you can check out our article here. I would definitely recommend giving yourself plenty of time in Bahia Solano before returning to make the whole journey more worth it.
We learned that you are able to buy return tickets for the boat in person at this office, beginning the day before departure. However, if you’re staying in El Valle this means you have to either head back to Bahia Solano a day early or make an extra trip there and back. We didn’t want to do this, so instead we messaged them to give them our information and reserve two spots. The return boat usually leaves in the morning; ours was scheduled to leave at 7:30am from the same port we arrived at. Our hostel (Pelican House) was nice enough to arrange an early morning tuk tuk to take us to the port, and your accommodation will probably be able to do the same if you ask.
When we arrived in the morning, the boat staff seemed a bit confused about the fact that we didn’t have our tickets already despite messaging them to reserve some spots. One of the men kept asking if we had a visa/permission to be in Colombia, and for some reason seemed to believe we were trying to illegally enter or exit the country via boat somehow. However, shortly before boarding a woman arrived at the port and we were able to pay her and get on the boat with no issues. If you’d like to save the stress of not getting a ticket until the very last minute, getting it in town the night before could be a good idea however it is certainly possible to get tickets the morning of as well.
The Experience
After finally securing our tickets and stocking up on a few snacks, we headed to the departure point in Buenaventura ready to begin the long journey to Bahia Solano. As we waited around, we watched the sailors load up the boat with a seemingly endless assortment of cargo. On our first voyage this included actual live goats, and on the return trip the cargo consisted almost entirely of dead, stinky fish. Just when we thought they couldn’t load more on, another truck came to drop off more. We waited for a few hours longer than we expected to, and I can imagine this is probably the norm.
Eventually, the sailors told us it was time to board. There were actually quite a few other passengers, around 15, all of whom were locals except for us. Everyone got on and scrambled to find a bunk bed and enough floor space to put their luggage. The bunks are stacked three high and it’s definitely pretty cramped. On the way to Bahia Solano we got the room on the first floor, right beside the engine. It was sweltering hot until nighttime when the door broke and kept blowing wide open, letting in sprays of seawater and gusts of wind.
One very important thing to note is that the ocean can get quite rough. If you’re prone to seasickness, good luck. The boat was rocking back and forth quite a lot the whole time. Fortunately, Jeremie and I both felt fine the whole time. Unfortunately, most of the other passengers did not. As I’m sure you can imagine, with everyone being sick in that tiny little room it became a bit of a cesspit. I had brought seasickness medication (HIGHLY recommended) and tried to do some damage control, handing it out to those who looked like they needed it the most.
On our return trip, I woke up in the middle of the night to a strange silence followed by some shouting. In my confused, half awake state, I wasn’t sure what was going on and I just drifted back to sleep. As it turns out, the silence was due to the fact that the engine wasn’t running and the boat had completely broken down at some point in the night. In the morning, Jeremie told me that he got up to take a look and saw the staff running towards the engine room with allen keys in hand, which is really never a good sign. Thankfully things got up and running again. I’m not sure how long we were broken down and aimlessly adrift, but this incident definitely added a few hours and some extra excitement onto the journey.
The trip takes about 24 hours each way, give or take a lot depending on weather and other factors. This is a lot of time to be cooped up in a small space, so bringing some sort of entertainment is definitely a good idea. Think card games, podcasts, or a good book. Someone even brought a guitar. The long ride provides a great opportunity to get to know your fellow passengers as well. There was actually wifi on board, so that helped pass the time too.
One bonus of the boat ride is that meals are included. Pretty much all of the meals we had were some variation of rice, plantain, and meat. We are vegetarian and the cooks weren’t really familiar with that, so we either just got plain rice or got served the regular meal with meat. In this case we had no trouble finding some other passengers who wanted our extra portion. It could be worth it to pack some snacks (or maybe a bottle of hot sauce) to add some variety. There wasn’t really any access to drinking water, so we would recommend bringing a big bottle with you.
The overall experience of the voyage does seem a bit dependent on the weather. On the way to Bahia Solano we had beautiful sunny weather and we spent most of the time sitting on the deck at the front of the boat enjoying the open water and scenic coastline. We saw whales, dolphins, birds, and a beautiful sunset. On the way back it was quite rainy and stormy, and we were somewhat cooped up in our bunks which made the trip much less enjoyable.
Okay, so I know that a lot of what I wrote may not sound that tempting. Like I said, this voyage is not comfortable. However, we actually had a good time overall and looking back now this was definitely one of the most memorable adventures during our whole two months in Colombia. We saw lots of sea life and amazing views during the voyage, the boat staff were really quite friendly, and we got to spend time getting to know the other passengers and practicing our terrible Spanish.
One of our favourite things about the boat was that it felt like a glimpse into the daily lives of the people who live and work along Colombia’s Pacific Coast. We got to see the effort that goes into supplying these remote reaches of coastline that have no roads connecting them to the mainland. When we finally reached our hostel in El Valle and got to enjoy some well-earned Aguila’s, we couldn’t help but think about the long journey they underwent to get to us and the sailors that delivered them safely to shore.
If you are on the fence about spending either the time or money to get to Bahia Solano, believe us when we say that it’s absolutely worth it! Getting up close with whales and turtles is an absolutely magical experience, and the relatively undisturbed beaches and forests of the area offer so much to explore (if you want to read our post all about Bahia Solano, you can find it here). Despite all of the craziness that our journey on the cargo boat entailed, I can honestly say that we do recommend it for other adventurous travellers, because it offers an alternative, budget friendly way to access this beautiful corner of the world. We hope that this post has made it just a bit easier for you to have smooth sailing to Bahia Solano and back.
