Advanced Open Water

Blue Bottom Diving offers both the SSI Advanced Adventure and the full SSI Advanced course for certified divers looking to push beyond the Open Water limit. The centre's site selection gives Advanced students real variety: Cueva Neptuno at 24 metres combines cave navigation and drift diving in the same dive; La Caleta at 19 metres usually has current running along the wall, which makes it practical training for drift technique.

The 20-plus dive sites within 15 minutes of Puerto Colón mean that Advanced students aren't repeating the same profile day after day. Volcanic walls, sandy flats with stingrays and angelsharks, a large grunt school at Roncadores del Palmar, and the cave system at Cueva Neptuno near Punta Rasca all feature in the rotation. The centre plans dives so that groups don't repeat the same site during a stay.

Rental kit is MARES throughout, with a high-end tier available — Fusion 52X regulators, Dragon 2017 BCDs, and Black Edition computers — for divers who want to train with top-spec equipment. All rental sets include a dive computer as standard. Nitrox-adapted gear is available for divers already certified or training toward nitrox.

The Advanced course at this centre feeds directly into Rescue, Divemaster, and specialty programmes including deep diving, wreck diving, sidemount, and cavern — all offered in-house under SSI.