Learning To Dive In Taganga - Terrifying But Amazing

In our last post we were watching the world go by in sleepy Mompox. The past few days have been quite different. We went from Mompox back up to the Caribbean coast, finally ending in the village of Taganga. As you may or may not be aware, Mompox is a little off the beaten track and quite challenging to get to or away from. Our journey up to Taganga took 7 or 8 hours, involving a (stiflingly hot) minivan, ferry (which had recently capsized and tipped several lorries into the river), and local bus. We made it though!

Beautiful sunset in Taganga, taken from our hostel roof terrace

Taganga is the kind of place we might normally avoid: its draws include drugs, prostitutes, partying and hippies. It reminded us a lot of a backpacker beach destination in south-east Asia (Koh Tao, Sihanoukville). However, it also happens to be one of the cheapest places in the world to do diving courses, along with Koh Tao in Thailand. Kev is already qualified, having done his Open Water certification in Thailand and his Advanced in Indonesia, but I had never done any diving before. This seemed a great opportunity to give it a go and see why Kev loves it so much.

Okay? Okay - diving in Taganga

We had done some research prior to arriving in Taganga and already booked the diving with an instructor called Reto Müller, who is originally from Switzerland. Reto is a freelance instructor in Taganga and we liked all the reviews we read about him, particularly those mentioning him being good with nervous people (i.e. me!).  We met Reto at the roundabout in Taganga at sunset when we first arrived, along with a group of fellow divers and hangers-on. This was to become a theme - every day we'd go there to watch the (very pretty) sunset, meet people and discuss the day's adventures over a beer or two. The other theme was Café Bonsai, the best café in Taganga, in which Reto was a regular and reserved a table every lunchtime for all his friends and dive students. It was great to have these social activities each day and the chance to compare experiences with others. One day Reto even put on a BBQ for at least 10 people!

Argh, a shark!

My first experience of diving, the pool session, didn't go too well. I was in a group of 3 doing the Open Water course, along with Kev who was having a skills refresher in the pool too. I found the explanation of all the equipment too fast and a little overwhelming, and was slow to grasp the skills that the others seemed to be taking to like fish to water. It was stressful! The worst thing was the mask clearing, i.e. letting your mask fill with water and learning how to expel it. I found that when I had my nostrils in water, I kept trying to breathe through them... not the best idea, and it usually resulted in me panicking and coming to the surface coughing and spluttering. Reto in the end left me to sit on the bottom practising breathing and getting used to being underwater. This in fact helped quite a lot; by the end of the session I still couldn't clear my mask but at least felt much more comfortable and less panicky underwater.

A tiny fish hiding inside the coral

After this first experience I was quite disheartened and spent a long time dithering over whether to give up or give it another go. I was lucky in that Reto had offered to do the pool session again with me the next day, but this time it would be just me. While feeling that maybe diving was not for me, I was eventually convinced by Kev to make the most of this opportunity to have a go one to one with the instructor. And this time things went much better! I didn't panic, I completed all the skills, and even got quite good at clearing the mask. Reto seemed as pleased as me and said I was ready to start the open water (sea) stuff the next day. I was very grateful to him for giving me the extra time.

On the boat - diving properly! - with Reto (right)

Diving in the sea properly was a whole different experience to the swimming pool. In particular, I had to get used to trying to control my buoyancy. This isn't that difficult in the pool, but when you're down at depth and the pressure is changing, it's more challenging. Just inhaling or exhaling can have quite an effect! The first two dives, down to 12m, I spent mainly bobbing up and down like a yo-yo. On the second day in the sea, we went down to 18m. I had felt nervous about this, as 18m sounds pretty deep, but in fact it felt much the same as 12m. I couldn't believe we were that deep really! I was a little disturbed by the odd booming noise in my ears that would seem to get louder and louder and then vanish; eventually I realised this was just a boat going by overhead...

Lobsters

By the second day in open water, I was quite enjoying myself, while still screaming a little inside (being able to breathe 18m underwater still doesn't seem quite natural)! It was pretty amazing to be swimming along just above the sea floor, passing beautiful coral, fish and other marine life. Among the highlights were several lobsters and several seahorses, plus an eel and (I think) a nudibranch. While I'd seen seahorses before, snorkelling in the Galápagos, now I had time to stop and see them properly, rather than having to come to the surface for air after a few seconds. I was starting to appreciate the advantages of diving.

Coral and a fish (fish identification isn't my strong point yet!)

Kev spent the time in which I was learning to dive to do his Rescue Diver course, the next major PADI course after the Advanced. This seemed to consist mainly of him and his fellow students towing their (big) instructor around on the surface, as well as dragging / carrying him to shore and providing emergency oxygen. It looked exhausting! Kev also had to learn how to deal with panicked divers underwater, e.g. people attempting to swim rapidly to the surface, or flapping arms and legs wildly, or trying to grab his mask or regulator. While it was very physically demanding, Kev said he enjoyed the course overall and gained confidence in his ability to help others (and himself) underwater. And now I have a certified Rescue Diver to dive with!

Not sure what this is - possibly a nudibranch?

Having completed our diving courses, we wanted to spend a couple of days around Tayrona National Park, a coastal park where the beaches back onto tropical jungle. It's a large area reaching nearly as far as Taganga, and we had in fact already been diving at the edge of Tayrona (one of the options to get into the park properly from Taganga is by sea in a speedboat - 1.5 hours of bumping, Reto told us!). Diving in Tayrona is quite different to hiking though, and we wanted to experience more of the park on land.

Arrecifes Beach in Tayrona National Park, with jungle behind

There are several basic lodging options in the Tayrona Park itself, but instead we opted to stay just outside, at the Posada Seineken, a set of wooden cabins run by a friendly Colombian family. It was a good place to relax, with a lovely garden, hammocks everywhere and pets including a cat and two rabbits (I was happy)! While we were only 50m or so higher than Taganga, the climate here was quite different. Cloudier, with a few outbursts of torrential rain, and most importantly, noticeably cooler. This was a welcome change from the relentless heat and humidity of the past couple of weeks.

View of the sea through the jungle

We had a long day trip to Tayrona, the entrance to which was just 500m down the road from where we were staying, and had a great time. We hiked along well maintained paths through the jungle, with occasional glimpses of the stunningly blue Caribbean sea and gorgeous beaches. The park is very popular with Colombians and gets very crowded in high season; now is low season but it was still quite busy, especially at the beaches. We stopped at Cabo San Juan, probably the most famous beach, to have a dip in the sea and cool down from the hike.

Climbing the original steps built by the Tayrona people, in Pueblito

Another of Tayrona's highlights, other than the beaches and rainforest, is archaeological. A steep climb up a hill from Cabo San Juan takes you to Pueblito, the remains of a settlement occupied by the Tayrona culture between about 400-1500 C.E. It is mostly overgrown but you can still see terraces, platforms that were probably open air temples, and flights of stairs. The hike up here was crazy - the 'path' takes you up through a load of huge boulders, which you have to sort of scramble up, at times aided by a rope. An hour of this was quite tough! We were rewarded on the way when we saw a whole troupe of monkeys though, and Pueblito was well worth the effort too. Instead of returning to Cabo San Juan, we followed a different path and eventually came out on the main road, where we could catch a bus back to our starting point.

A large train of leafcutter ants

We are now in the colonial city of Santa Marta, adjacent to Taganga, spending a couple of days in a nicer hotel with air conditioning and a (very small) pool. Our plans include more diving and possibly a trek to Colombia's famous Lost City. But we will have to see, as Kev has injured his foot and I am ill once again due to some dodgy food...! Onwards and upwards.