Scuba diving in Taganga was one of the most unforgettable experiences during our travels through South America.
Like many dreams we have, scuba diving was one we kept on procrastinating. We both always had the interest in getting our diving certification but it was never the right time to make it happen. Until this year in Colombia, where we finally made this dream a reality.
While approaching the Colombian coast and planning our route we realised that the small village of Taganga, fifteen minutes from the city of Santa Marta, was a renowned diving spot and that was the last push we needed!
We browsed diving schools online to find that the best one was Dive Taganga and reserved with them just by sending them a whatsapp message. We planned to stay in Taganga for four days as the Open Water PADI course lasts three days. We booked a very peaceful hostel, Casa Tara, which turned out to be a wonderful stay.
Taganga is a very small village, with no paved roads, where all the activity takes place around the main street parallel to the beach. The area around the beach has some really nice restaurants and bars, which at sunset have the best seats to enjoy the beautiful show. The beach itself is nothing special, but you can easily get to other seven small beaches on the coast, either following a walking trail or taking a small boat. The ocean is of an intense blue with turquoise areas and very clear visibility.
As much as we enjoyed our diving course and our stay, unless you are planning on diving, we won’t necessary recommend a stay in Taganga. Although there are some nice areas, the town is extremely polluted and so are the areas around the other smaller beaches. While if you are planning to dive or do the diving course, than Taganga is the perfect place as the ocean has wonderful marine life and the cost of the diving courses is very affordable.
Our Open Water course was definitely one of the best experiences of our lives.
We discovered an great love for this activity and enjoyed every minute, from learning the theory to diving in the ocean.
Our instructor Darwin made us fall madly in love with diving! He was able to teach us, excite us, amaze us and calm us down along the three days. During the Open Water we first learned how to use the gear in the pool and then moved to the ocean, where we dived down to 18 meters and admired the beauty of the ocean life.
We will never forget the incredible feeling of being able to take our first breath under water! In three days we received our PADI Open Water certificate and being on a high of excitement we decided to also do the Advanced Course.
The reasons why we decided to do our Advanced course right after the Open Water where mainly two. By doing the Advanced course you automatically do more dives. Therefore instead of paying for more dives, it makes more sense to be paying for the Advanced certification. Secondly, as part of the Advanced course you get to take part to a night dive and practice drift diving, both experiences that sounded extremely exciting to us!.
After the first course we made our way to Tayrona National Park and came back the week after to complete the Advanced course, which takes place over two days.
During the Advanced course you get to practice in more details certain skills such as buoyancy and navigation and you dive deeper, reaching 30 meters.
Diving deeper is less exciting per se, as the colours change and there is less light, but what’s important is that you are able to control your performance in any circumstances.
We both loved drift diving, which consists in entering a current and letting the water carry you along for a while, and night diving. During the night dive you go out in the ocean at sunset, admiring the sun disappearing into the water while you are on the boat and then dive in the dark. Diving in the dark gives you the opportunity to see a variety of fishes that are mainly nocturnal and to play around with the plankton that illuminates while you swim. The night time makes the dive even more silent, introspective and fascinating.
Our Open Water combined with the Advanced courses costed 230 euros (with a discount as we did the two combined).
If you have been thinking about diving and still have some doubts, we would definitely suggest to go for it! Under the water there is whole other world, which you can only be reached and appreciate while diving. It’s a world made of beauty, peace, respect and mysteries. It’s a world where humans are only spectators and can appreciate the untouched marvels of the marine world.
If you have any question or any doubt please drop us a comment!
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