In January 2025 we spent a week in Santa Marta. It was our first time in this sea side town of Colombia. Actually, it is a city with approximately 600,000 inhabitants located at the Caribbean coast.
We had not dived for 9 years so we were pretty excited. In preparation we already did a refresher class in Amsterdam in the Mirandabad with the diving school “Divection”. They were very professional. We had a lot of fun – even if it was in the pool with only 3 meters depth. But last December it was good to practice again some safety procedures such as recovering your regulator and put it back into your mouth. So we could have our first open water dive after many years in a very relaxed mood.
Great diving school in Santa Marta – Casa de Buceo
Christian found a great diving school called “Casa de Buceo” – house of diving – run by mother and son. Both were “samarios”. That is how you call people from Santa Marta. Christian loved their local family approach when choosing among nearly 20 (!) diving schools in the city.
On two consecutive days we did four dives during the day with instructor Adriana and one night dive with David who is the owner of Casa de Buceo. Both of them were fantastic. During all of the dives we felt safe, we got great instructions and had a lot of fun together.
Our first dive was at Isla Pelicano just a few minutes boat ride away from Rodadero, a more touristic bay of Santa Marta, South of the city center. We went down to 18 metres and swam by corals and sponges that looked like vases. Once under water you are caught by the peaceful atmosphere while floating in the ocean. Our first dives were about 35 minutes. After a break and a snack we had a second dive at Playa Blanca, a little bit further North. The variety of fish was impressive as were the moray eels.
We were surprised how the routine of diving came back immediately even after so many years without doing it. But before we had had about 30 dives. We got our PADI advanced open water certification in Malta in 2004. We are still looking back in awe at those wonderful dives we did there. The incredibly clear water, the amount of fish and also ship wrecks from the past. Furthermore, we dived in Venezuela – Los Roques was the best of all – Cayman Islands (most beautiful), Hawaii and Thailand. Compared to all of them, the water quality in Santa Marta was not as good with lots of particles and a rather average visibility.
On day two we did three dives including the night dive in Santa Marta Bay. Just outside the harbour there is a little island called Isla El Morro. Basically it is a steep rock in the ocean with a lighthouse on top. Here we went down to approximately 18 meters and spent 50 minutes under water. The cliff of the rock just continued underwater. Dive #4 was close to the port of Santa Marta where they sunk a ship. It was cut into four pieces prior to being sunk. So we discovered all parts that added excitement to the dive.
The night dive was a bit too exciting for Christian. We went down at the light house again. But diving in the dark is very different when there is hardly any light and you have to descend into the depth of the ocean.
As you have to stick together all the time you need to focus a lot. Especially, when you enter a strong current as we did. It felt like a movie passed by our eyes very rapidly. Christian was quite happy when it was over.
After a break during the weekend and an excursion to Tayrona National Park we had one final day of diving before our time in Santa Marta was up. We felt that diving in Tayrona would be a great idea and found a different diving school located in Taganga, one bay further North of Santa Marta. They took us to two diving sites inside the protected park – Salichan and El Cantil – where especially the latter one was the best site we have had in Santa Marta. The visibility was much better there and the coral reefs were very alive with lots of fish. A great finish of our diving adventure!
Conclusion on diving in Santa Marta
As we had not dived in so many years it was a lot of fun again for us. We were not looking for difficult dives but more for recreational fun. Santa Marta offered this for sure as the city is very relaxing. January was a good month to visit and to dive.
Pro´s for diving in Santa Marta
- Many diving schools to chose from that cover many languages.
- Rather inexpensive. We paid approx. 80 USD for 2 dives.
- Diving sites are not far away from the coast, thus travel times are short.
- Tayrona National Park is easily accessible and the best place to dive.
- Great for beginners.
Con´s for scuba diving in Santa Marta
- The water quality in general is never crystal clear as we learned. The proximity of the mountains make rainfall flow into the ocean and dilute the water.
- We missed a “wow” spot while diving, though for sure after 7 dives there is so much more to discover.
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