ORIGIN - The Salvage Artist
Nicolás Kraliczek and Maria del Puerto are turning ocean junk into Cartagena’s nautical future.
ORIGIN is a series of portrait stories built to honor the people who make the travel we design possible. Chefs, guides, artists, entrepreneurs, and travelers.
Our community. Their stories. ORIGIN.
When you first meet Nicolás Kraliczek, his calm demeanor might fool you. At first glance, he appears unassuming, even a bit understated. But dig deeper, and you uncover a man who has lived a life of bold adventure, fueled by an unwavering passion for the sea. Attorney, commercial diver, treasure hunter, and now, the founder of one of Cartagena's most innovative nautical tourism operators: Maria del Puerto. His story reads like a modern-day epic, and it starts not with yachts or catamarans, but with pizza.
Born in Argentina, Nicolás started his professional career practicing law in Europe. After 12 years behind a desk, he felt a pull for something more visceral. In 2008, he landed in Cartagena and began a new chapter in the unlikeliest of places: Playa Blanca on Barú Island, where he cooked and sold handmade pizzas on the beach. Within six months, he had saved enough to open a sailing-themed bar in the city. It was known for its jazz nights, live music, and the unmistakable feeling that anything could happen.
The Moana Lounge, the centerpiece of our latest collaboration with MARIA DEL PUERTO: The Drift.
Over the next two decades, Nicolás obtained a commercial diving certification, moved to the U.S., and became licensed as a professional treasure hunter. His most famous claim? Discovering a World War II Nazi spy boat off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. That moment cemented his reputation as someone who didn’t just dive for treasure; he unearthed stories.
“We’ve been doing sustainability tourism for over a decade. Rescuing ocean garbage and transforming it into economic opportunity.”
Eventually, Cartagena called him back. He spent the next ten years salvaging abandoned vessels from the bay, each one a forgotten artifact of maritime history. One of these boats became the Moana Lounge, the centerpiece of our latest collaboration. Another, named Sirena, had once been a narco-trafficker's ship shot down by the Colombian Army. “We got permission to take her out of the water and bring her back to life,” Nicolás told me. He even rescued a boat from Utila, Honduras, a journey that was supposed to take a few weeks and ended up as a seven-month odyssey that involved fending off pirates along the Mosquito Coast.
Our paths first crossed in 2022, when our in-house creative agency won a contract with the Cartagena Tourism Authority to research the potential of nautical tourism in the region. I hired Nicolás as a local contractor, and together we uncovered a complex truth: Cartagena’s nautical sector was vibrant but plagued by informality, safety issues, and environmental oversight.
That shared consulting project sparked a promise to co-create more responsible travel experiences through WhereNext Travel and MARIA DEL PUERTO. This year, that promise took shape with The Drift.
The Drift is a narrative-driven experience aboard the salvaged and restored Moana Lounge and a nod to Nicolás’ remarkable story. We begin with a slow sail to a protected bay, where guests are invited to plant mangroves, a tangible act of regeneration that shields coastlines and nurtures marine life.
Afterward, we share a relaxed, locally sourced picnic onshore before heading back into the water to fish for bottles of artisanal rum that have been curing beneath the waves for three months. Like treasure hunters, we pull these submerged bottles from the sea and finish with a tasting on deck as the sun leans westward and we drift back toward Cartagena.
It’s a relaxed journey anchored in Nicolás' vision.
We’re proud to share this ORIGIN story and grateful to partner with Nicolás and the Maria del Puerto team. It’s the beginning of a new standard for high-touch, regenerative nautical tourism in Latin America.
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