Scuba diving santa marta colombia9/27/2023 ![]() Overall a very sharp group of instructors and they went out of their way to provide advice and best (safe) practices. Her instructors / dive masters, Emma, Carlos, Juliana and Diego were very knowledgeable, safety-oriented, fun, and charismatic. She was certified but she did a refresher and 3 fun dives. The man was just incredible to see under water, he was very clear with his explanations and he made me feel very confident. I was privileged enough to receive my instruction & PADI Open Water certification from Edil, a native fisherman of Taganga with over 32 years of diving and free diving experience. My wife and I spent two days diving with Oceano, and we couldn’t be happier. In conclusion I will dive with these guys again when I return to Santa Marta and hope that conditions allow to go to Parque de Tayrona.(My husband wrote this on behalf of the two of us) ![]() I noticed that they other guy was shivering a bit during the surface interval ride but he was good too. The water temp was 25C/77F and although it was a bit cold at times I was perfectly fine. Myself and another guy said that we didn’t want to dive with one and they insisted that we take wetsuits on the boat just in case we changed our minds. Side Note: They really really recommend to dive with a wetsuit that they provide (no extra cost that I’m aware of). Well because of the weather conditions the rest of the day I’m guessing that it was a no-go but no one called me to inform me or to try and sell me on going to alternative sites. They said that it was highly unlikely but would nonetheless let me know. But after we finished diving I told them that if they decided that they would go to Parque de Tayrona the next day that I would go out with them. Some of it is understandable because they are small operations and can’t have someone dedicated to just answering phones/WhatsApp. Communication: Initial comms is good but could use a bit of improvement and this goes for every single dive shop I’ve ever dealt with. We found two fishing nets and one beer bottle all of which we properly disposed of. BTW diving in Santa Marta is the first time I have seen debris. Unfortunately the conditions that didn’t allow us to dive in Tayrona made the diving conditions near Santa Marta cloudy. Sites: Due to safety considerations we didn’t go to Parque de Tayrona so we stuck closer to Santa Marta. But as si said before, neither myself nor anyone else had issues with their equipment. My BCD was brand new but some other equipment was a bit worn which means that it’s likely that they will soon cycle to new equipment. Equipment: Fully functional and they provide wetsuits. Not only during the dive but also on the way out to the sites he pointed out all kinds of points of interest. I’m really bad with names but one of the DMs was the owners’ son and he was really good. The DMs were constantly checking on air and making sure everyone was sticking together. Later a third source that had nothing at all to do with this dive shop told me that it was the right decision and that only irresponsible people were still taking people there. BTW on the day I went they chose to not go to Parque de Tayrona because of safety concerns due to sea conditions. I chose this place because of recommendations from a Colombian scuba group on FB and I wasn’t at all disappointed. I and a gentleman who just did his pool training went with the owner of the shop.Each dive master had only 2 people to look after, We went to the first spot that had other dive boats and was a bit choppy, they decided to go to another location that was calmer and no other dive boats were there After that dive they took us to a beach cove location for snacks before our second dive,David the owner noticed there was trash in this are and while we were resting he and his staff collected all the trash, Highly recommend this shop location in Santa Marta was easy to get to ,The qualty of concern was outstanding the visibilty was great nice brain corrals, morea eels,sea snakes lots of little fishes I was extremely impressed with the care that was given to each one of the divers, and snorkelers To begin with, there were 14 of us on the boat 5 people that were staff ,4 that I know were certified and went diving and snorkeling with us, and one to stay on the boat. I have not dove in over 15 years and decided it was time.
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