Isla Aguja

Isla Aguja sits a short boat ride off Taganga, inside the boundary of Tayrona National Park, and most of the diving around Taganga is concentrated here. The usual introduction to the site is a pair of named spots, Solidero and Calichan, where Open Water and sidemount students alike do their skills. A 2023 diver's report describes both as training sites with a mostly sandy bottom, brain and staghorn coral, and a fair sampling of reef fish, in about 70 feet (21 metres) of visibility and 82°F (28°C) water.

A Santa Marta tourism operator's site names the same feature El Salidero and describes an advanced dive reaching 40 metres with barracuda over the coral, while a dive-site directory logs a shallower shelf at about 8 metres for the same spot and warns that some days bring strong current. Between the two accounts, the site is best treated as a moderate-current dive to about 20 metres rather than a shallow training pool, and a guide is worth having once you go beyond the sand.

Dolphins pass the headland often enough that a Santa Marta dive centre lists them among the marine life here, though sightings are not guaranteed on any one dive. Groupers hold under the ledges and reef fish gather over any patch of coral or rock, the usual pattern on this stretch of coast. Because the crossing from Taganga takes only about twenty minutes, operators often pair Isla Aguja with a second, shallower dive on the same boat trip.