Malpelo

• Dive at approved sites only, with the authorized park/guide team and daylight briefings. The park minimum is Advanced certification plus 35 logged dives; CDA asks 50 total including 35 ocean dives and Nitrox proof. The stricter applicable rule wins.
• Strong/variable horizontal and downcurrents, swell, surge and uneven thermoclines can change entry and ascent conditions within a dive. Confirm a clear plan for lost buddy, diver separation, surface pickup and missed tender.
• Require a working personal beacon compatible with the tender, plus surface marker, whistle, lights, backup signaling and functional gas/computer discipline. The presence of an AIS/Nautilus in a packing list does not prove that a ship can track your device.
• Respect certification and park depth limits. ProColombia reports some destination diving to 42 m, but that is not a blanket safe or permitted recreational depth. No recreational technical/overhead or independent cave-penetration product was verified.
• No night scuba is allowed on the current park page; do not infer other permits for closed-circuit rebreathers or mixed-gas decompression diving.
• Confirm medical fitness for strenuous current diving and Nitrox training, and do not intentionally exceed no-decompression limits. If symptoms develop, stop diving and activate the vessel's emergency plan immediately.

The sanctuary has no verified on-island clinic, evacuation aircraft base or hyperbaric chamber. The boat should carry an explicitly documented first-aid/oxygen plan and working VHF/satellite communications, with crew drilled for an offshore casualty and missing diver. Do not assign a fixed rescue time, nearest operational chamber or guaranteed airlift without the current operator's plan and medical provider confirmation.

For urgent cases, alert the vessel master and local rescue/medical services using onboard procedures, provide appropriate first aid and oxygen by trained personnel, and seek professional dive-medicine advice. DAN's 24/7 emergency hotline is +1 919 684 9111. On the Colombian mainland the general emergency number is 123. DAN is not the local emergency dispatcher. DAN flying-after-diving guidance suggests at least 18 hours after repetitive multi-day no-decompression dives; longer is prudent and required intervals for decompression dives differ. The actual operator itinerary may already include long crossings, but verify the final dive-to-flight and any high-altitude ground-transfer interval. See a travel-health professional about vaccinations and individual fitness; do not infer a universal yellow-fever rule for this isolated rock.

The UNESCO World Heritage sanctuary protects pelagic habitats, reef ecosystems, large predators, endemic species and major seabird colonies. The park instructs visitors not to touch, chase, feed or disturb wildlife, to keep contact off the seabed and to take away all solid waste. It prohibits single-use plastics, alcohol and psychoactive substances in the sanctuary and warns against products harmful to marine life.

The park allows noncommercial photography. Confirm any separate permit requirements for commercial photography or filming. Drone use requires prior authorization from Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia under a filming or photography permit. Private drone photography and filming are prohibited. Do not use flash directly on sensitive fauna. No fishing, souvenir collecting, island landing, independent snorkeling or freediving should be assumed. Stay within appointed boat and park access boundaries. A wildlife encounter is an observation, not consent to follow an animal. UNESCO's older listed area and the current park's expanded total describe different regulatory snapshots; this research does not reconstruct protected-area geometry.