Dive Review of Snorkel club/Isla del Sol in
Colombia/Cartagena

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Snorkel club/Isla del Sol: "Very basic diving operation and experience", Aug, 2022, by Andrew Falconer , WA, AU ( Top Contributor 51 reports with 29 Helpful votes). Report 12017.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	As part of a five day trip to Cartagena, we spent two days on Isla Grande on the Rosario islands, which is one of a group of small islands offshore and along the coast from the city. The island was reached from Cartagena in 45 minutes by a fast boat capable of carrying 50 passengers. The cost including all meals was part of a package for staying at the hotel Isle del Sol on the island. The dive cost was extra, approximately $US40 including gear. We were very pleased with the accommodation, meals, staff and ambiance, although the latter was improved before and after the day trippers arrived and left (on the same boat as us). Also because it was a long weekend in Colombia, there where LOTS of other party boats complete with LOUD music moored just offshore during the day. The diving was something another matter, although being my first dive in six months, I had an enjoyable time getting underwater again. There were only 3 divers plus a dive guide, and we used the same boat that had a capacity of 50 persons! No briefing, certificate checks. My hired weight belt was on its last legs, although the BCD, regulator and tank fill were ok. We motored round to the other side of the island to “Guerre’s wall” where fortunately there were no boats other than ours. I was concerned that we didn’t even have short wetsuits to wear, but actually the water was so warm that I didn’t feel cold at any time. We put the BCDs on in the water, and submerged in about 2m depth of water, but swam to a drop off and the rest of the dive was along this slope / wall. At 20m the viz and coral was pretty good, but the fish life was almost non existent. A few colourful tiny reef fish, the biggest being wrasses about a hand’s length long. Our group spread out and my son and I had difficulty keeping the guide in view, as he just did his own thing completely unaware of us! Only after we were about to finish the dive did he seem to be interested in us. On the boat on way back we stopped briefly to snorkel above an aircraft which I presume was sunk deliberately as a point of interest. There were at least ten boats with multiple heads bobbing up and down around the wreck. I think that it was probably an Aero Commander, in one piece apart from missing its engines. After checking out the plane, we went back to the hotel.
Websites	Isla del Sol
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vanuatu, South Africa, Iceland, Scotland, Norway, Cuba, Maldives, Chuuk, Galapagos, Phillipines, Sri Lanka, France, Colombia
Closest Airport	Cartagena	Getting There	Direct flight from Miami, but we flew from Medellin
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	27-28°C / 81-82°F	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	5-20 M / 16-66 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Zero, no certificate check, no plan until asked
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, I had my Olympus TG5 and housing, downloaded the pick of the photos to my iPad, and used “doodie’s” to adjust the colouration.

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Dive Review of Snorkel club/Isla del Sol in Colombia/Cartagena

Snorkel club/Isla del Sol: "Very basic diving operation and experience", Aug, 2022,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 Snorkel club/Isla del Sol in
Colombia/Cartagena