Santa Catalina and Coiba Report

[night729]

Hello everybody.


Just got back from Parque Nacional Coiba and Santa Catalina, Panama. From Panama city my father and I spend half a day taking buses to Santiago, then to Sona, then to Santa Catalina, not a bad trip if you don't mind riding in crowed buses. It helps if you know Spanish, but we didn't and it wasn't too much of a problem. They use the American Dollar there and have the same type of electrical system as in the States, so those aren't problems.
Santa Catalina is a very nice little village with great accommodations and food. Not including the surfing places there are maybe 4 or 5 hotels that you can stay at, some of which have air conditioning and at least one has satellite TV, not that you would need it. Santa Catalina is a very safe area, we felt very comfortable walking around at night.
The food is excellent, there are maybe 5 restaurants in Catalina. One place called “Buena Vista”, I believe, serves an excellent breakfast, but is not open for dinner. “Pizzeria Jamming”, only open for dinner, serves some of the best pizza I have ever had and has a great variety. There is also an Argentine place that serves good burgers. There is a seafood place too. And there is also the “pink building” that serves all meals I believe, although they do not have an English speaking employee, most of the other places do. Also, when we stayed on Coiba, Herbie brought along a chef for us, so we certainly didn't suffer from lack of good food!
We went through Scuba Coiba(scuba diving in Coiba in Panama - bucear en Coiba en Panamá - tauchen in Coiba in Panama) and we were very satisfied. The owner and dive instructor Herbie and Jeremy his other instructor seemed very knowledgeable. On Monday we went to Coiba for a day trip, Tuesday we stayed around Santa Catalina. Both dive areas were similar and full of life. For Wednesday through Friday we stayed at the ranger station on Coiba, which although not luxurious, was comfortable enough and I would highly recommend staying there.
The diving is not for beginners, as there is significant current on some of the dives, and it did not seem to be too predictable. You go out on a small (25 ft) boats, as thats pretty much the only type around there. When we were there we never had a problem with rough seas, but it might be difficult if you did, as there are no ladders and you have to climb over the side of the boat. The amount of fish was amazing, there was hardly a time that when I looked around I didn't see a large school of fish swimming around. There were hundreds of puffer fish all over the place on every dive site. Lots of starfish too, especially Crown of Thorns. You are almost guaranteed to see white tip reef sharks on every dive. We were there in March when the Manta rays are in the area and we saw them on at least half of our dives. You see different things at different times of the year.



pictures
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/underwater-photography/226935-coiba-national-park.html
Picasa Web Albums - Mark - Panama Select

 

[drbill]

Thanks for the report. At first I thought there was a Santa Catalina Island off Panama that I'd have to add to my list. I know of the ones in the Sea of Cortez, off Costa Rica and the Columbian one (plus a few others).

Panama seems to really be pushing for American tourism based on the funny commercials their tourism department is showing on LA stations.

 

[FleaFlop]

Thanks for the post- you don't see enough info on panama- I'll be there for weeks coming up and I can't wait to dive this site- I also wanted to stay on the island so thanks for the input on the lodging- as long as it's great diving I don't care where I stay!
how long does it take to get from the mainland to the island? and what type of wetsuit did you wear? I usually just wear a shorty-

also, how deep were your dives? I am advanced nitrox diver but my friend just got certified- thanks for the info!

Ericka

 

[night729]

I would strongly recommend a full wetsuit. This is because there is a chance that you will run into jellyfish. On two different dives out of ~12 we did there was one dive that there was a jelly fish (small ones, maybe 5 inches long) maybe every foot or two in all directions, although I don't remember them stinging me, I would rather be safe than sorry. Also, this is a more important reason, on one dive, we ran into some "stinging plankton". I would get stung in one place and I would look, and theres nothing there that I could see. We only ran through one cloud of them, but in that time, while wearing a full wetsuit and gloves, i got stung maybe 15 times. It doesn't hurt that much, and there were no lasting effects, but it is quite annoying and wouldn't want to go through it with a shorty!
Another factor to consider is that sometimes below the thermoclines can be a little cold. I would have been quite cold if I had been in a shorty, although its up to personal preference. Temperatures were in the 65-75 range.
The deepest I went was 110 feet, that was only one dive that we went to a seamount. Most dives are between 70 ft and 30 ft.
As far as nitrox, I think it is not available down there, but to be sure you should check with the dive shop.

It think it took about 1-2 hours to get to Coiba from Catalina, it really isn't a bad ride, the boats they use down there are like 20-30 ft i think, and they have an awning that you can sit under, we never had rough seas though.

Coiba is definitely worth it, it is the experience of a lifetime.

And although the accommodations are somewhat primitive on Coiba, it didn't bother me at all, it has a great atmosphere out there.

 

[FleaFlop]

Thanks for the info- I'll totally bring my full suit- I tend to get a little cold especially on consecutive dives- the area sounds amazing- I hope it's as unspoiled as I imagine- if you haven't done diving off Roatan in honduras I would totally recommend it- the different types of diving are diverse and while there wasn't as much sea life as I had hoped the formations and terrain were truly special- thanks again!

Ericka

 

[night729]

Roatan is actually the only other place I have been diving, what a coincidence! I loved it there, but ill make a quick comparison. When I was on Roatan for Christmas 2006 we stayed at Luna Beach, and dived with them too. On Coiba I saw a Lot(with a capital L) fish(and other creatures) than when I was on Roatan. The other side to that is that I saw not nearly as much coral on Coiba, it is more rock covered with small surface corals, some small branch corals, and other things growing on it. That is opposed to the large sea fans, brain corals, and sponges that you see on Roatan.

As far as consecutive dives go, I had a really laid back experience there. You typically go out on one dive in the morning, then go hang out on some deserted beach(which are really beautiful. or go back to the ranger station for your surface interval and maybe have a snack. Then you go out on your second dive, after that you go back to the ranger station and have a nice relaxing lunch. Then you go do a third dive.

It really is unspoiled, there are 2 dive shops in Catalina, and with maybe a charter boat or two, I think that those are the only people diving in the area, and only Scuba Coiba actually has trips to stay on the island, the other shop does day trips to the area. What we did see that was a little disappointing was that there were two cruise ships that visited the island, and they kind of take things over. But the upside to that is that just from two cruise ships the park got something like $7000, $45 per person per visit. You would only have to pay it once even if you stay on the island for a couple of days, although that goes to conservation!