PANAMA - Looking for Info on Liveaboard MV Yemaya in Coiba Nat. Park

[jkandls]

I would like to travel to Panama & looking for anyone that has been on this Liveaboard. How would you rate the diving ? Also, I have heard a wide range of transfer times from Panama City to the Santa Catalina, like 3 1/2 hrs to 6 hrs. Has anyone driven it ? How long? Is it a scenic drive ?
thanks

 

[mvk777]

Hi.
I was with Yemaya on 4 trips, 3 to Malpelo/Coiba and one trip exclusively to Coiba. I can recommend the boat without any reservations - the boat and the crew are great. The boat departs from Puerto Mutis, and they do all the transfers - you should not worry about that. Diving Coiba is great experience and they do at least one day on Hannibal bank which is top spot by itself.
Highly recommended. I'm not a good photographer, but here are some easy shots from Coiba and Malpelo, just to consider
https://picasaweb.google.com/109551523806240479497/CoibaPanama
https://picasaweb.google.com/109551523806240479497/MalpeloIslandColombia

 

[jkandls]

thank you very much. what time of year have you been there & what water temps did you encounter ?

 

[arthur 72]

Hi, I live in Colombia and now all dive operators with liveaboard operation in Malpelo and work regularly as a dive guide in the east pacific.

With Yemaya you will have the most comfortable experience in terms of transfers and liveaboard experience compared with the other operators. Get one day before the trip starts to Panama City and the next day you will be picked up by the bus. Very good road to Puerto Mutis about 3 to 3 hours and half duration.

Malpelo

From End of April, beginning May on you find surface temperaturs of 28 degree celsius and termoclines between 20 and 30 meters with about 24 degree celsius. January to April surface between 16 to 24 degree celsius and sometimes termoclines down to 13 degree celsius.

I like the season from May/June to August/September because Silky sharks get in large numbers to Malpelo usually first beeing observed around the diving site scuba and Gringa. Additionaly of course you always may observe hammerhead- and galapagossharks and sometimes walesharks.

There are free spaces July and August on Yemaya

 

[jkandls]

Thanks for the good info. I am looking at Coiba more because of time. What do you mean by free spaces in July & August ?

 

[mvk777]

Another great thing with Yemaya which I liked a lot during my trips - they give you many options for good land tours which are fit to your arrival-departure schedule. You can take Canal tour (which is very god) just after arrival to Puerto-Mutis from your dive trip and still be good, say, for a late flight same day. So you are not wasting any time. For me that was valuable.

 

[jkandls]

thanks all for the good info, been helpful

 

[Quero]

What do you mean by free spaces in July & August ?

I don't book that boat, but when I say this to divers booking LOBs through me, I mean "spaces available" (rather than "spaces at no cost").

 

[arthur 72]

Hi guys, sorry about the "free" spaces, my english gets rosty here.... Spaces available in July August, there is a last minute special offer available for July. (Best season for Malpelo)

By the way, good news, just came back from another Malpelo trip, we had large groups of silky sharks and hammerheads. Also Galapagossharks in several sites, so despite of the illegal fishing activity detected last year, the shark population seems not have suffered to much loss. Lets just hope colombian park authorities will put some effort into protection, for 85 US$ park fees per day we should expect that.



Diving Malpelo

 

[Dom@DiveAdvice]

Hi guys - have a look at this video of Malpelo - shot earliet this month Malpelo May 2012 - YouTube