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Scuba diving in San Andres: Best spots and prices
You can discover the best centres, courses and places to go diving in San Andrés Islands in Colombia in this guide.
On San Andrés, a Colombian island, you’ll find very special places for diving. Several spots offer different underwater attractions, with statues, shipwrecks and a wide range of marine life. This guide is for diving lovers. We’ll show you the best centres and courses where you can learn everything about scuba diving in San Andrés. We’ll also explain the top diving spots and how much each experience costs.
Dive centres and courses in San Andrés
The dive centres we’ll show you below have more than fifteen years of experience in this sport. They offer plans for experienced and inexperienced divers, along with certified courses for anyone who wants to start or specialise in a branch of professional diving.
Hans Dive Shop
This centre is well-known in San Andrés for its commitment to marine life and ecosystem care through diving. They offer mini diving courses for people who don’t want certification and only want a unique underwater experience. They also provide programmes for certified divers.
Their dives usually take place in southern San Andrés, specifically in a spot called Big Mama, where they also have their headquarters. They’ll also take you to key diving points on the island, where you’ll find a museum of local statues and a wide variety of fish.
If you want a PADI certification course with this academy, you can choose from these levels depending on your experience:
- Basic PADI Open Water Diver
- Advanced PADI Open Water Diver
- PADI Rescue Diver
- First aid as a complement to the rescue course
- PADI Divemaster
Felo Divers
This dive centre offers simple diving experiences in the waters of San Andrés, including mini courses for children and adults who want to explore the seabed without any previous experience.
They also offer night dives for all levels, letting you discover the sea’s fluorescent species. They organise double dives for more experienced divers, where you explore two major points of the island.
Their goal is to make every dive fun and unforgettable, so you’ll meet friendly instructors and guides ready to help with everything during your adventure.
Additionally, it’s one of the best-equipped and most specialised centres in San Andrés, since they have their own accommodation for divers called Casa Felo.
Regarding the courses they offer, you can choose either the basic or advanced Open Water certification, depending on your experience.
Sea Pride Diving School
Their focus is scuba diving instruction in San Andrés. However, they also offer plans for divers who only want a single dive and advanced divers who want to visit iconic diving spots on the island. You can book an experience with up to two dives.
No boats or speedboats are required for their dives, since they take you to spots where shore diving is possible. They also have certified instructors who guide the entire descent and remain prepared for any situation that may occur.
Their courses range from beginner levels to speciality programmes, making them one of the most complete dive centres on the island. These are the PADI-certified courses available with Sea Pride:
- Basic Open Water Diver
- Advanced open water diving
- Rescue diving
- Divemaster
- Specialities such as buoyancy control, enriched air nitrox, underwater digital imaging and deep diving
The best scuba diving spots in San Andrés
In San Andrés you’ll find diving areas suitable for every experience level. Here, we’ll show you which spots work best for beginners and which ones require more skills, making them ideal for certified divers.
1. La Piscinita
La Piscinita is a natural pool in the West View area, formed thanks to the coral reef barrier that surrounds it. It’s ideal for beginner divers who want a simple underwater experience, since the maximum depth here is just five metres.
You’ll find parrotfish, angelfish, surgeonfish and damselfish, along with schools of grunts and sergeant majors. You’ll also see colourful coral reefs decorating the seabed.
La Piscinita offers a safe environment where you can take your first steps in diving. It provides a calm setting, plenty of marine life and a manageable depth that makes your experience enjoyable.
2. West View
Right next to La Piscinita, you’ll find the West View Natural Park, which offers a much deeper diving experience. It’s ideal for intermediate divers with PADI certification. Here, you can descend up to twelve metres and enjoy excellent visibility for underwater photography.
One of its main attractions is the underwater museum, where you’ll see several statues, including the Poseidon statue located at eight metres. It’s a perfect place for photos during your scuba diving session in San Andrés.
You’ll also spot corals and fish of different sizes and colours. Many of them are juvenile fish that hide from predators in shallower areas like West View.
3. El Acuario
This spot is another natural pool where beginner divers can take their first lessons. The depth at El Acuario doesn’t exceed two metres, which makes it suitable for everyone.
Despite the shallow depth, you’ll find several animals and plants, including starfish, stingrays and small sharks that occasionally visit the area, although they don’t stay when people are around.
4. Blue Diamond Wreck
At fourteen metres deep, you can explore this shipwreck, which was intentionally sunk around thirty years ago on the west coast of San Andrés. Over time, the ship became an artificial coral reef, blending with the natural seabed and turning into a home for species such as sergeant majors, damselfish and parrotfish.
This spot suits intermediate or advanced divers, since its depth and the time required underwater to explore the wreck demand solid technique and experience.
5. Blue Wall
This diagonal wall covered in coral leads you towards the deepest area of the sea, which can reach forty metres. Because of that, it’s a spot where highly experienced divers can enjoy long and exciting dives.
The underwater landscape reveals San Andrés’ rich marine life as you descend. You’ll see different types of schooling fish, sharks, rays and even turtles on some occasions.
Connectivity while you dive in San Andrés
When you visit San Andrés, don’t neglect your internet connection, since you’ll need data to share your experience with friends and family. It’ll also be your main tool for contacting dive centres, so staying connected on your phone becomes essential.
We recommend the Holafly monthly plans, which offer 25 GB or unlimited data. These plans let you share data with other devices and enjoy global coverage. This means you can travel to over one hundred and seventy destinations with the same eSIM and plan.
If you only want unlimited data for the days you stay in San Andrés, you can install the Colombia eSIM, which provides internet only for the period you need.
Important: If you are a frequent traveler and want to stay connected without worrying about expensive roaming or looking for a new SIM at every destination, Holafly’s subscription plans are for you. With a single eSIM, enjoy internet in more than 160 countries for a fixed price and no surprises on your bill. Travel without limits and connect easily and securely! 🚀🌍
How much does diving in San Andrés cost?
Here, we’ll show you the approximate cost of diving in San Andrés. You’ll see the prices for each diving experience, course and speciality. These values are estimates and may vary depending on the season you visit the island.
- Discover Scuba Diving: Between $40 (€36.50) and $80 (€73).
- Mini course without certification: Between $50 (€45.50) and $60 (€54.50).
- Experience for advanced divers: Between $65 (€59) and $72 (€65.50).
- Basic Open Water course: Between $440 (€402) and $470 (€430).
- Advanced Open Water course: Between $470 (€430) and $500 (€458).
- Rescue Diver course: Between $480 (€440) and $500 (€458).
- Specialities:etween $400 (€366) and $480 (€440).
Frequently Asked Questions
No, you don’t need it. You’ll find all the equipment required for diving in San Andrés, so bringing your own gear isn’t necessary. However, you can bring it if you prefer using your personal equipment.
A basic diving course usually lasts three or four days, depending on the agency and its teaching method.
A course isn’t mandatory. Basic courses are designed for people who want to get certified. If you only want an underwater experience, you can book a diving package where instructors teach simple techniques so you can descend a few metres and see fish and other attractions.
To get to San Andrés from other Colombian cities, you need to buy a plane ticket. For example, from Bogotá or Medellín, the flight time can be between 1 hour and 50 minutes to 2 and a half hours.
Blue Wall is San Andrés’ most iconic diving spot. It features a coral-covered wall and a wide variety of marine life that fascinates divers.
