Playa Marbella

This guide to Playa Marbella in Cartagena looks at what's really under the sand along this Caribbean shoreline: pumped fill, stone groins called espolones, and a running fight against erosion. You'll hear how winds and shifting currents strip sand from one stretch and dump it on another through the seasons, and how the city has answered with engineering rather than letting the coast move on its own. It also traces the Gran Malecón del Mar, the current phase of that fight running along Avenida Santander. Look down the shoreline for the low stone fingers reaching into the water.