The short answer: swim out, don't drive out
The best snorkeling within easy reach of Cartagena isn't in the city, it's across the bay on Tierra Bomba, and our own house reef is an eight minute swim from our beach. No boat, no 6am pickup, no two hour crossing to get wet. You put a mask on, walk in, and swim.
That's the whole pitch, and it's the reason we keep repeating the distance. Most snorkeling sold in Cartagena involves a long day on a boat to the Rosario Islands and back. That day is worth doing, and we run our own version of it, but it isn't the only way to see coral here. We're twenty minutes by boat from the city and the reef is off the beach.
What's actually down there
Coral, and a lot of it. Our house reef is coral-rich and shallow enough to swim rather than dive, the water is warm, and the marine life around it is abundant. It's the same reef our dive centre uses for beginner training, which tells you something about the conditions: you don't teach first-timers anywhere with a current that scares them.
What you won't reach with a mask are the other sites we dive. Certified divers go out by boat to nearby shipwrecks and an underwater sculpture garden. Those are tank dives with our centre, not something you swim to from a lounger.
A word on gear, because we'd rather be dull than wrong: bring your own mask and fins if you own them and have the luggage room. If you don't, ask our scuba centre on the day rather than assuming. They'll tell you straight what's free at that moment.
If a mask isn't enough: what a first dive costs
We're a PADI Dive Resort, so the step from snorkeling to breathing underwater is a short one, and it happens on the same reef you were floating over an hour earlier. Prices are per person, in US dollars, and every one of these starts from our beach or our dock.
| What | How long | Price | Certification needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| House Reef Discovery Dive | 2 to 3 hours | $90 | None, total beginners welcome |
| Discovery Day (boat, two dives at separate sites) | 4 to 5 hours | $140 | None |
| PADI Scuba Diver | Minimum 2 days | $320 | None, leads to certification to 12m |
| PADI Open Water | 4 days | $460 | None, certifies you to 18m |
| PADI Advanced Diver | Minimum 2 days | $440 | Open Water required, takes you to 30m |
The Discovery Dive starts with a short theory session on equipment, safety and hand signals, then shallow water to get used to the gear, then the reef. It doesn't lead to a certification and it isn't meant to. It's the cheapest honest way to find out whether you like diving before you commit four days to an Open Water course.
If you do book a course, stay with us: divers get 20% off rooms, which makes the four day Open Water considerably less painful to budget for.
The Rosario Islands, when you want the postcard water
For white sand and clear open water, the Rosario Islands are the trip, and we run ours by private speedboat rather than a shared launch. It's a full day out to the archipelago: a coconut handed over from a canoe, fresh lobster, water the colour the brochures promise. You book it through us and we sort the boat.
We won't pretend our reef looks like that from the surface. Tierra Bomba is where the coral is close; the Rosarios are where the water is bluest. Different days, and there's no reason to pick only one if you're staying a few nights.
Making a day of it
Most people snorkel for forty minutes and then want lunch and shade, so here's how the rest of the day tends to go. A VIP daybed sits right in front of the pool and costs $50. A beach cabaña is $30, closer to the sand and a little quieter, which is what we'd pick if we'd just swum out to the reef and wanted to lie still afterwards. Check our Beach Club page for the current prices before you plan around these.
Bring your own towel. Our website and confirmation emails have contradicted each other on this in the past and we're fixing it, but the policy is: bring one.
When to come
Any month you're here. September and October bring more rain than the rest of the year, though the rain tends to arrive in short heavy bursts rather than settling in for the day, and we've written separately about what that actually does to a day with us. Mornings are calmer and less crowded than afternoons, which matters more for the swim out than for anything else you'll do.
If you're coming out for a single day rather than staying, work backwards from the boat timetable rather than from lunch. Our page on the crossing has the times.
See you on the boat.