San Andres, Colombia - Diving Photos and Wrap-up

Tuesday, April 30, 2002

012-34.800 N
081-42.000 W

If one believes the media, Colombia is a country torn apart by drug lords, guerrilla warfare, kidnappings, etc. This may be true, especially in the interior, but the coastline and outlying islands seem to have been spared this strife. And if anything, the people of Colombia are some of the nicest people anywhere. If you're thinking about coming to Colombia, DO IT! You'll have one of the best cruising experiences in the Caribbean.

San Andres turned out to be a wonderful place to stop. It appeared that we were going to have to blow through the islands off of Nicaragua in order to get to the Bay Islands off of Honduras in order to pick up Frank & Lee's son & girlfriend, but they were able to divert them to San Andres. Rob & Beth spent a week here & dove every day and we dove with them most of the time. While most of our dives were done with another company, I would strongly recommend San Andres Divers, as their operation & equipment was by far the best. Ask for Jamie, who speaks great English. We paid 70,000 pesos ($31) per double tank dive, but you can probably get it down to 60,000 if you dive a lot.

The diving in San Andres is great. While there aren't a lot of fish, they make up for that in water clarity. We regularly had visibility that exceeded 200'! I was amazed at how much light there was at 120. You can dinghy dive at several spots near the anchorage, but the ride can get rough once you clear the reefs. The reef on either side of the sea buoy is very good. To the east of Johnny Cay, there's a circular spot of sand surrounded by Coral which the locals call "Here Kitty" which has TONS of fish. Great dinghy dive. On the south side of the island there's the Blue Wall and Blue Hole. This is a vertical wall that goes down 300+ feet with lots of great coral & some large fish. North of Cove Bay (west side), there's a large wreck that's in 30-40' of water that can be dove from shore. Very nice.

I used my digital camera to copy my underwater shots. The first generation prints are much better, but these will do for now. If you're interested, they're at http://www.geoffschultz.org/ Follow the link for "2002 Sailing" and you'll see them under "San Andres Diving". I also uploaded photos for Portobelo, Panama and San Andres.

San Andres has a ton of restaurants where you can eat for cheap. It almost doesn't pay to cook! The restaurant at Club Nautico is good & inexpensive, La Regatta, which is next door, is very nice with a better selection & great ambiance, but more pricey. Nikos had very good food, but bring bug spray. Casa Blanco was also very good, but variable. Cafe Cafe is great for pizza, but just OK for other food.

There's a small chandlery across the street from the hotel facing the anchorage. Ferriteria Onvi has the best selection of hardware that I've seen in months. Down the street from Onvi you'll find the Mini Ray supermarket which is expensive, but has a great deli section. For a better selection & prices, go to the Super Exito on the NE side of downtown. There are 2 movie theaters there, the nicest being on the 8 floor of the hotel Tiuna on the beach. There are tons and tons of shops, so you can shop 'till you drop.

If you anchor near Club Nautico you can use their facilities for $10/week. This includes the dock, garbage, pool, workout room, tennis courts, billiard tables, TV, etc! Well worth it. Happy hour is 7-9 and they make a mean Margarita.

To clear in/out, use Rene (VHF 16). Charges were $40 & he brought all of the officials to Club Nautico! Easiest check-in ever!

This is being written from Providencia, which was a 50 nm beat to the NNE, but that's another position report...

Log ID: 230