Tierra Bomba

Reported fares

These two lines are what operators quote for the crossing rather than a published tariff, so they are reported figures and not official ones. The fort itself is free, which means the boat sets both the price and the length of your day.

Tierra Bomba sits directly across the bay from Cartagena, splitting it from the open Caribbean and forming the two channels into the harbor: Bocagrande, the wider one, and Bocachica, the narrower one, at the island's southern tip. In the 1600s, sediment and shifting currents made Bocagrande too shallow for large ships, so Bocachica became the main entrance, and the Spanish fortified it heavily as a result, building the forts that still stand today. When Bocagrande became passable again in the mid-1700s, engineers built an underwater wall to close it off deliberately and keep Bocachica as the defensible chokepoint, a wall that remains submerged there today.

The island has four named localities: Tierra Bomba, Punta Arena, Caño del Oro and Bocachica. Beyond the forts, limestone kilns once operated across the island, converting stone into the lime mortar used to build Cartagena's own walls and churches, and fishing families settled here long before any tourism did. Development stayed minimal for most of the 20th century, little more than beach shacks serving fresh fish, until the last two decades brought a wave of beach clubs and small hotels to the Punta Arena side of the island, aimed squarely at day-trippers from Cartagena looking for a shorter crossing than the Rosario Islands.

No CARDIQUE, DIMAR or Alcaldía tariff schedule exists for the Tierra Bomba crossing, and every figure in the comparison above comes from operators or travel blogs, not a government price board. Two figures show up repeatedly enough to trust as a starting reference: a shared fast boat one-way around $2.38 (7,500 COP), and an organized tour package around $47.60 (150,000 COP) plus a separate $4.44 (14,000 COP) departure tax, sometimes called an impuesto de zarpe. Treat both as a floor for negotiation, not a fixed rate, since captains and local operators set their own price on the day.

The two common departure points work differently. From the boat launch behind the hospital in Bocagrande, small water-taxi style boats board directly from the beach and leave once full, and you negotiate the fare and pickup time directly with the captain before boarding, ideally agreeing on a name and a return time as well. From Muelle de la Bodeguita, near the clocktower, boats primarily serve island residents commuting into the city, but tourists can use them for a similar informally negotiated fare, again with no fixed schedule. If you'd rather skip the negotiation entirely, several beach clubs on the island run their own boats included in a day-pass price, a more expensive but far simpler way over.

At the island's southern tip sits Bocachica, a small town that gives its name to the narrow channel beside it. Three fortifications defended this chokepoint: the Fuerte de San Fernando de Bocachica, the Fuerte de San José across the channel, and the Batería del Ángel San Rafael on a nearby hill. All three are open, and entry to the Fuerte de San Fernando is free, described by its official operator ETCAR as "completamente gratuito," open daily 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

What isn't free is getting there. Boats to Bocachica run from Muelle Turístico La Bodeguita, specifically door or gate 2, taking a reported 15 to 20 minutes. The boat fare itself runs a reported $3.17 (10,000 COP), with a further reported port or maritime exit tax of roughly $0.95 to $1.59 (3,000 to 5,000 COP), neither figure officially published. That combination, not the fort's admission price, is the real cost of the visit. Just as important: it's the boat schedule that decides how long you can actually stay at the fort, not the posted 8:00 to 5:00 hours, since boats back to Cartagena run informally and infrequently rather than on a fixed timetable. Confirm a return time with your boat before you start exploring the fort, and don't assume a boat will be waiting whenever you're ready to leave.

Three ways to route the day

No official source recommends a visit length. These routings reflect the two main things people come to Tierra Bomba for: the forts, and the beach clubs.

- Tierra Bomba is why Cartagena's harbor entrance sits where it does. The island split the bay into two channels, and when the wider one silted up, the Spanish deliberately walled it shut underwater to force all traffic through the narrower, more defensible Bocachica channel [cartagenaexplorer.com, read for this guide]. - All three Bocachica forts are free to enter. The Fuerte de San Fernando, Fuerte de San José and Batería del Ángel San Rafael cost nothing, the real expense is the boat that gets you there [ETCAR official page, checked 2026-09-18]. - The island has four distinct localities, not one town. Tierra Bomba, Punta Arena, Caño del Oro and Bocachica each have their own character, and most visitors only ever see one of them [tomplanmytrip.com, read for this guide]. - Limestone kilns on the island supplied Cartagena's own walls. Stone converted to lime mortar here built the same fortifications tourists now visit in the historic center [cartagenaexplorer.com, read for this guide]. - No single body sets the boat fare. Every operator, blog and boat captain quotes their own figure, and the range across sources runs from roughly $2.38 to $3.17 one-way depending on the route and who you ask [facts pack, checked 2026-09-18].