Scuba Diving Colombia's Rosario Islands

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Austin Tuwiner
August 26, 2026

I want to share my experience diving the Rosario Islands in January of 2026.

I intentionally didn’t do much research before coming here, as I wanted to be surprised.

The Rosario Islands are about an hour boat ride away from Cartagena, Colombia.

Bajo Perdido dive site in the Rosario Islands, Colombia

I was in the area for a friend's wedding, and the Rosario Islands seemed to be where all the diving charters were headed.

I went with the charter Diving Planet, as they had several great reviews and picked me up close to my Airbnb.

Diving Planet gives you the option to stay overnight at one of the many resorts on the Rosario Islands for multiple days of diving, but I elected to do two fun dives.

Best Time to Dive the Rosario Islands

Beachfront hotel with a pool in the Rosario Islands, Colombia

Divers visit the Rosario Islands year-round but the dry season (December to May) is generally the best time to go.

In January, the guides and myself were diving without a shirt on as the water was between 82 and 84°F (28 to 29°C) (28 to 29°C).

Rosario Islands Dive Sites

Marina pickup point for the Rosario Islands, Colombia
Map of dive sites in the Rosario Islands, Colombia

Here's a picture of the top dive sites that Diving Planet takes customers to.

We dove two sites being Bajo Perdido and Gloria which they claimed were two of the best.

If anyone has additional original imagery from these dive sites let me know so we can improve this guide!

Shallow Reef Dive: Bajo Perdido

The first site we did was Bajo Perdido, and it was my least favorite of the two. It's on the Northern side of the island, and relatively flat, although it can get deep.

Tangs at Bajo Perdido, the Rosario Islands, Colombia
Schools of blue tangs.

Main attractions being pockets of colorful coral, and schooling fish.

Bajo Perdido dive site in the Rosario Islands, Colombia

The Divemasters carried polespears for invasive Lionfish, they speared a couple each dive.

There were several colorful triggerfish swimming in and out of coral structures, but oddly enough, these were the largest fish we saw at this site.

Best Wall Dive: Gloria

After a long surface interval we went for our second dive at Gloria.

Wall at Gloria, the Rosario Islands, Colombia

This site is on the South Western point of the islands, and was structured differently than the first. It's a wall ranging from 15 to 20 feet (5 to 6 m) at the top all the way down to 100+ feet (30+ m) at its deepest.

Coral at Gloria, the Rosario Islands, Colombia
The wall seemed to go on forever and was decked out in coral of all different kinds, many of which I'd never seen before.
Gloria dive site in the Rosario Islands, Colombia

While it was awesome to see such healthy reefs with vertical structure, it really did feel like something was missing diving here.

Besides schools of Parrotfish, Tangs, and whatever these blue fish were, there wasn't a ton of activity on the reef.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Austin Tuwiner

I'm a PADI Divemaster based in South Florida.

With over a decade of diving experience, I help readers become better divers, buy their next piece of gear, and plan their dream dive vacation!

Hear Austin's Story

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