Woman travels to Insta-famous pink sea only to discover what it actually looks like

It seems as the years go by, more and more Instagram-famous places pop up online.

Unfortunately, a lot of them don’t live up to the hype – with travelers even exposing what America’s ‘picture-perfect’ Insta-famous places are actually like.

And one woman who dreamed of capturing the perfect moment with the perfect picture was certainly in the same bracket.

The TikToker was expecting an Insta-worthy vista, but was instead met with a total let-down.

Royal Williams documented her disappointing visit under her travel page Yup! She Travels.

She decided to visit a beach near Cartagena, Colombia which has become well-known on social media over the years as the ‘pink beach’.

But as is often the case with these ‘picture-perfect’ locations, they don’t exactly look as good in real-life as compared to snaps and videos on social media.

Royal had initially visited in 2019, but when she retuned two years later, it was a lot different to what she remembered.

It does look incredible there, right? (TikTok/@yup.shetravels)

In her TikTok video, Royal shares a picture of herself at the beach in 2019, with the water pink as advertised.

However, when she returned in 2021, Royal was welcomed by just a regular-coloured beach.

The solo traveller shared her disappointment with her thousands of followers, captioning the 13-second clip: “That one time in Colombia”.

Local travel website, Cartagena Explorer, explains exactly why the beach has such a vivid colour.

Boiling it down to ‘a combination of two factors,’ the website briefly details the science behind the pink beach.

“The first [factor] is the high salt content of the water, which is why this area is also a sea salt mine,” it reads.

The travel page adds: “The second is the presence of a micro-algae that thrives in the salty environment.”

Not quite amazing there though… (TikTok/@yup.shetravels)

It is the mix of these two naturally occurring elements, alongside ‘a brightly shining sun’ that gives the Cartagena sea its distinctive rosy colour.

Many flocked to the comments section of the TikTok video to provide their reaction.

One TikTok user couldn’t even believe the two videos were of the same beach, commenting: “Is that even the same place?”

Others theorised as to why the sea water was no longer its Insta-famous bright pink.

“Could also be global warming?” suggested one person.

Another chimed in with: “Global warming at its finest.”

Sharing the travel vlogger’s frustration, a fourth wrote: “LOL I was there in March 2019 and this video is exactly our experience.”

Several others also attempted to make sense of the stark contrast in water colour, wondering if it had anything to do with the ‘time of year’.

However, Royal explained that while the videos shown in the TikTok video were two years apart, they were recorded at the same time of year.

Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@yup.shetravels

Topics: Travel, Social Media, Instagram, TikTok