Scuba diving in San Andrés: a guide to your first dive

San Andrés is surrounded by a barrier reef, and you don’t have to be a diver to see it from the inside. With a beginner mini course and a PADI instructor by your side, you can make your first dive in a morning or an afternoon. Here’s how it works.

Can I dive with no experience?

Yes. The scuba diving mini course is for beginners: you don’t need experience or to know how to swim, because the certified instructor is with you at all times and you practice first where you can stand. It’s a recreational mini course, so it doesn’t include full PADI certification.

What the mini course is like, step by step

It’s about three hours in total, including pickup and drop-off at your hotel:

• Pickup: you’re picked up at your accommodation, anywhere on the island (Centro, San Luis, La Loma or El Cove), and the time is confirmed on WhatsApp.
• Theory and equipment: at the dive school you learn how the tank, the BCD and the fins work, and the hand signals for communicating underwater. Everything is fitted to your size.
• Practice: you get into the water where you can still stand and practice breathing through the regulator until you feel comfortable and safe.
• The dive: the instructor guides you down to a maximum of 10 to 12 meters. All you have to do is breathe and take in the corals, the schools of fish and the marine life.
• The return: you come back up to the surface and are taken back to your accommodation.

Before you book: your health

The minimum age is 10. Scuba diving isn’t suitable if you’re pregnant, or if you have severe asthma, heart or lung conditions, uncontrolled high blood pressure or diabetes, or epilepsy. If you have any questions about your health, message us before booking.

Don’t fly the same day

After diving you have to wait 12 to 18 hours before taking a flight. That’s why it’s best to plan your dive for the first days of your trip, not the last one.

What to bring

• Swimsuit and towel: your swimsuit on and a towel.
• A change of clothes: for the ride back to the hotel.
• Sunscreen: preferably biodegradable.
• Cash: for extras, such as underwater photos and videos, which are optional and booked separately with the professional diver.

Diving and more: the combos

If you also want the pontoon, the VIP tour, parasailing or the island tour by chiva bus, the San Andrés combos pair scuba diving with other activities in a single booking, with the dates for each one. Combos with scuba diving are also for ages 10 and up.