San Andreas, Colombia-Anyone Been There?

[shallow-minded]

My girlfriend and I are very new to diving. She has been on my case for some time to go on vacation. I have found a little island off the coast of Nicauragua named San Andreas owned by the country of Colombia.

(1) Has anyone on this board been there?
(2) Did you enjoy your experience?
(3) Where did you stay (hotel accomodations)?
(4) Who did you charter dives through?

Any help would be great.

Thanks,

Shallow-Minded

 

[Guillermo]

You might want to do a search on "San Andres" and there are some comments on diving over there.

I have gone to San Andres, stayed in Hotel Sunrise which is a very good hotel in front of the sea with a private beach, and there are other good hotels as well. You might want to stick with 4 and 5-star hotels. The stars are used a little more sparingly on this side of the tropics.

Actually there are 3 Colombian Islands in front of Nicargua, being San Andres the biggest one. From there you can fly to Isla Providencia or Santa Catalina which are even smaller islands and in Providencia you can ride around the whole islands in about 20 minutes by car and Santa Catalina I think you can do it walking in about the same amount of time!

San Andres used to be a tax-free port so there are a lot of shops, however the island has not fared very well economically since those boom times.

The water is caribbean water, very clear, with reefs around and there are dive shops as well.

Check out this web sites:

http://www.webcolombia.com/travel/Sanandres.htm

http://www.sanandres.com/htmls/scuba_eng.shtml

We had a blast on San Andres, we were not certified at that time so we did mostly snorkeling and resort scuba and also flew to Providencia and Santa Catalina which seems that you were on your own island.

Enjoy

Guillermo

 

[domino22]

Yes I have been there two times. Stayed at the lord piere and the aquamarine. I like the aqua marine better it was all inclusive the food was ok the drinks were in little real little cups so we bought bottles of rum and made are own.Alot of rooms are over the water which we had.They have sunfish sailboats that are free I sailed every afternoon.Alot of canadians never saw another american both times I was there. Most americans are leery about Colombia.Canada has direct flights there to the island which explanes why I met alot of them. I went thru Bogota I would not suggest that unless you have some one there to pick you up.Do not get in a cab there unless you call by phone to the cab company and give a name and the driver who shows up better know what name you gave or your fixin to have a real bad experiance. San Andres no problems at all. Good diving. Cheap. Like the other post said ck out the web page they have.

 

[crispos]

San Andres is a good place for new divers to visit. The coral flats are around 60-70 feet deep with a drop off to 120 feet. Stay in the coral flats and enjoy the warm waters, lack of active weather and currents.

I have been twice. You can go through Miami to Bogota. The island itself is tiny but full of Latinos and Founders, and is alot of fund. Also cheap. The man you want to dive with is wernito who is an island institution http://mitglied.lycos.de/wernersai/twen.htm

Also, you can read and chat about SAI at the Big Juice San Andres Island Group on MSN

http://groups.msn.com/BigJuicesSanAndresIsland/_homepage.msnw?pgmarket=en-us

Have fun. This is a laid back island, fun easy diving and plenty to do topside like dancing, shopping, even having an island hike into the jungle.