Diving Trip for Certified Divers.

We did a two dive 7am-12pm trip with Santiago and Alvaro on 15th November 2022. Booking, prepayment, waiver form filling must be done online the day before. We were a combined group of first-time divers who did a shallow discovery dive w Santiago and experienced divers who went with Alvaro to 18meters depth (56min and 52min). The visibility was quite bad due to a lot of recent rain but the reefs were nice and the presence of a shipwreck (Los Barcos divesite) and car (!) wreck (El Coche divestie) made up for the not so perfect conditions. We saw seahorse, crab, langoustine, barracuda, stonefish, smalleyed ray, featherworms. I normally always ask for a wetsuit which they offered but in the end I was fine without. The boat was on the smaller side but all the equipment was pre-loaded and prepared including weights etc. We really appreciated that long-sleeved diveshirts and openheel fins with boots were offered as standard part of the rental and included in the price. Generally the equipment quality was very good, nice masks, BCDs w/ integrated weights (no need for weightbelts, yay!). Generally, very good value for money especially if the pictures we're about to download (INCLUDED in the price, never seen this before with any other diveshop) will be of good quality. Thank you Santiago and Alvaro for a great morning! PS: I was originally excited to see the 'underwater museum of sculptures by German Botero' which every guidebook tells you about so when booking we asked if we could see that. After the first dive to Los Barcos, Alvaro told us "that was it" and that the sculptures were not by Botero. I was quite confused as we only saw a few 'man-made' structures around the shipwrecks not resembling Botero's typical oversized figures. Alvaro mentioned that there are some more objects in shallower waters but we did not go to them as the visibility was very limited. So only after the dive I researched and found a video which explains the situation and the story (search for 'Colombia: Cartagena’s first underwater museum I WIDE') I guess that those sculptures (really by Botero but just very different from what you would expect) were the ones in shallower waters which we ended up missing.

Very unfriendly and very focused on pre-payment. I had a reservation to go diving and filled in all the forms on my phone. This isnot easy, but that’s the way the want it. In whatssapp contact I asked about the link for payment. No reply for a long time. When they did reply, they pushed me for the payment within minutes. As it turned out, they required also my passport details. As I did not have my passport on me all day, I had to go back to the hotel to get it. By that time they already cancelled my reservation and tild me I was too late. No payment afterwards, as usual in our scuba world, was accepted. Very unfriendly approach. There are better and nicer companies to choose in Cartagena.

I LOVE BUZOS! After researching a couple different diving companies, I ended with Buzos because they were recommended to me by my diving instructor from Santa Marta. And it’s been great! I’ve done a couple dives with them & I love how considerate they are when placing you in the right group level. Due to my previous experience, I am able to use one tank for about an hour & with Buzos I’ve been able to stay for exactly one hour in almost all my dives. They are also very friendly & they won’t forget a familiar face. They remembered my name the next time I came. They are fantastic & I highly recommend especially if you’re staying nearby the city center. Their diving locations are wonderful ????????