hola jfproul
March 23rd my buddy and I head back down to SAI (San Andres Island) for the sixth straight year for two weeks of divin.
SAI is great. The later in the season you go the better and more dive site options.
SAI is actually much closer to Nicaraugua then Colombia. Its about 12 miles long 4 miles wide and has a population of about 30-40 thousand. It is an incredibly safe island with virtually no pan handling or begging.
The people are among the friendliest I've met anywhere and there are lots of shops resturaunts, pubs etc.
The major resorts are a chain of Decameron hotels. The Isleno, the San Luis, the Marazul, the Maryland and my favourite, the Aquarium. There is an amazing website that I also post on as do a growing group of regulars who venture every year to SAI. Its an MSN message board called BigJuices San Andres island. com I post under the same "unclewas" there are lots of underwater photo's under the pictures section and unlimited info and links to the islands businesses.
The diving
Three types or dive locations exist on San Andres. The windward or east side of the island consists of deep geological wall dives. Starting at about 50-60' the walls are verticle rock faces with numerous hard and soft coral growth lots of crevices and semi tunnels starting around 90'. There can be currents. Vis runs in the 80 -100' range and the waters in this region are a consistant 80-82f. These are seasonable dives and usally only attainable from March onward due to the winds. The waves can really kind up and we have dove in 6-8 foot swells but usually by late March they're in the 2-3 foot range.
The leeward (west side) is the calm diving. Accessable all year the typical dive profile begins by dropping to 50' then heading out over a much more shallow wall of hard and soft coral. The drop is somewhat less verticle but you still know its a wall and if you bury your depth gauge in the sand you might hit 140-150'
Over the year we have encounter many large green and spotted moreas, turtles, southern sting rays, trigger fish, nurse sharks, a couple carribbean reef sharks a gorgeous 4 meter great hammerhead and a large population of wild dolphin. (I have included a couple pics of these both here in my gallery and on the Big Juice message board. And of course a whole host of your average run of the mill reef fish.
There are a couple wrecks but nothing to wright home about.
Cayo Bolivar is the third but absolutely the best diving. Less then twenty to thirty divers get out to this place. Number one because of the difficulty in reaching it due to heavy seas and winds. I because it is so remote you need to have a large enough group to cover fuel and other costs.
The island is twenty miles out from San Andres and is about 300 meters long, one hundred meter wide and is home to palm trees, bushes, crabs and small cute lizards. Its almost like the caribbean's version of the Galapogos. We stay overnight in hammocks rigged between the palm trees and sleep under the stars.
Its a four dive two day trip and the reefs are virtually untouched. The place is magical that's all I can say about it.
There are three major dive shops. My personal favourite is a German fellow named Werner(Wernito) he own Karibik divers and a group of us return every year. I've done nearly a hundred dives with him alone and always have a great time. HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO TAKES TRIPS OUT TO CAYO BOLIVAR. The second is Nelson, he is also terrific,,,lots of jokes in broken English and I've done some great one on one diving with just him and I.
The third is a group called San Andres Divers. I haven't dove with them yet but might check them out this year,,,they got some cute dive masters.
Anyway, I'll be more then happy to answer any question. My buddy and I always stay at the Aquarium Resort, its two minutes walk from Wernito dive shop and three minute walk into the main street of town.
cheers and I hope you come down to SAI this year
SAIdiverwas
