Arboletes Mud Volcano

The crater sits right on the beach - a broad pool of warm grey mud a few metres across at the top of a low mound, with the Caribbean directly below it, and the arrangement is the appeal: you get into the mud, float in it without effort because of the density, then walk down the slope and into the sea to rinse off, which is both practical and free. It is a sedimentary mud volcano, driven by gas and fluid rising through the coastal sediments rather than by magma, and it is one of a series along this coast. It is far less commercialised than the Totumo crater near Cartagena - fewer attendants, fewer tips, and no chain of separate charges. Erosion of the shoreline here is rapid and the crater has changed shape over the years.

What you actually see

• A mud crater on the beach - with the sea directly below.
• Floating without effort - the mud is dense enough to hold you.
• Rinsing off in the Caribbean - a short walk down the slope.
• A sedimentary volcano - gas and fluid, not magma.

When to go

December to April. Two hours.

Honest expectations

Facilities are basic - changing arrangements are rudimentary. The mud stains clothing and swimwear permanently. Coastal erosion has altered the site repeatedly. Arboletes is a long way from anywhere.

Nearby

Monteria is east; the Uraba gulf is west.