General Description

We are still relatively undiscovered by the diving community and yet the area holds some of the best Caribbean diving available. One of the greatest advantages of the area is the variety of diving in an accessible area.Within a small area there are steep walls with lovely corals and sponges generally framed by schools of creole wrasse. Some of these walls have a sand shelf visible at about 200 feet/70 meters while others appear bottomless as they reach down to over 600 feet. Nearby to these walls are of patch coral with depths of 45 feet/13 meters harboring schools of a large variety of fishes. Then there is the barrier coral reef which, at about 20.5 miles / 33 km long, is the third largest in the world and the only one of the three associated with an island of volcanic origins. Throw in a few ship wrecks and you have it all.

We do all of our dives as boat dives and most of the sites are within 20 to 30 minutes travel time with several only 5 minutes away. This is a good area to use a computer (aren't they all?) to be sure you get the maximum dive time on each dive. We have a limited number of computers to rent but you should bring your own if you can. We all love to dive and are happy to dive with you as long as nitrogen levels and air supply permit a safe dive. We ask that divers return to the boat with 500 lbs of air in reserve.

Conditions

Water temperature ranges between 80-82 degreesF /26.6 - 27.7 degrees C for most of the year. Visibility varies between 40 feet / 13 meters and over 100 feet/33 meters depending on the winds and plankton. An average day would be 70 feet / 23 meters. There are no or very mild currents on most sites. There are some sites outside the reef such as South Bank that have the potential for stronger currents, depending on the tides, that we will dive with more advanced divers. Theweatheris moderate with air temperatures between 79 - 89 degrees F / 26-32 degrees C and there is generally a cooling breeze.throughout the year. There are about 60 inches / 1500 mm of rain a year with the wettest months being October and November. The dry season runs from January to June and this is the time of the most wind. The wind during these months is generally from the east as the Eastern Trades and because of the barrier reef we can dive the western wall and the patch reef inside the barrier reef with no problems.

Dive Sites

The most popular 15 sites were buoyed by Coralina (a conservation group on the island working in association with UNESCO Seaflower Biosphere Reserve and the Colombian government) in 2004 and are maintained by the local dive shops. The real number of sites is unknown as we are constantly finding new places of interest . A new diving guide has been recently published (ISBN 958-33-7883-6) which has good descriptions of the island and 28 of the dive sites. If you have a hard time getting a copy we can ship one to you for 50,000 pesos for the book plus shipping.