Dive Review of Diving Planet in
Colombia/Cartagena

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Diving Planet: "Not an Operation/Location for Experienced Divers", Jun, 2019, by Steve Tulsky, CA, US ( 2 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 11050 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We did Diving Planet's two-day trip to the Rosario Islands. We were not in Cartagena for the diving, but took advantage of the opportunity to get some underwater time as the occasion presented itself. Having previously enjoyed truly diver-oriented trips, locations, and operators, this was not impressive as diving goes. The corals here are a bleached-out mess; our first dive was like a walk on the moon, and while the remaining three were somewhat better, none of the corals were particularly nice nor were the fish plentiful. The operation was well-organized and efficient, but not geared towards experienced divers. We were the only ones on the boat with our own basic equipment (mask snorkel fins), and the first time we got to try on our rented BCD's was when they strapped them on our backs just before it was time to jump off the boat. The dive masters were attentive and used very effective signaling devices, but there wasn't that much for them to point out. When we stopped by their shop the day before our dive to register, we asked about Nitrox and were assured that it would be available at their base on the island and that any mix we wanted was available (which should have made me suspicious, as that is not what most shops offer). But when we got there, they told us that they didn't carry Nitrox, but that it wouldn't be necessary because of the shallow depths. While this latter was true (no harm, no foul), I don't see why they provided the incorrect information both in their shop and on their website. I'm glad that I didn't pre-purchase their 2-day dive package on their website, because what I ended up paying by simply sending a minimal deposit in advance and then settling when we signed-in the day before our dive was much less than what the website rate was. The website rate was high (as was the rate for the non-existent Nitrox), but what I actually ended up paying was reasonable. Their staff were very helpful with getting us to and from the outlying island that we were staying at on the Rosarios. And all the people that we worked with were reasonably friendly and generally had a good command of English. At the end of the day we were left off at a different location than the morning pick-up, and the result of this was that we found ourselves taking a long afternoon walk through the heart of the Old City of Cartagena in our wet bathing suits with dive gear dangling off our backs. A little awkward, but we were equally uncomfortable with subjecting the back seat of a taxi to our wet butts. Overall, we accomplished our goal of getting some scuba time in, but between the damaged dive environment (not DP's fault) and the orientation of the operator towards non-active/inexperienced divers, this was not a dive experience that we would likely seek out again.
Websites	Diving Planet
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, Maui, Wakatobi, Cozumel, Florida
Closest Airport	Cartagena	Getting There	Fly from multiple gateways
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	82-°F / 28-°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-40 Ft/ 6-12 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Diving Planet in Colombia/Cartagena

Diving Planet: "Not an Operation/Location for Experienced Divers", Jun, 2019,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Diving Planet in
Colombia/Cartagena