Trip Report - Coiba & Malpelo on Inula Liveaboard

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ukdave0

Contributor
Messages
83
Reaction score
17
Location
Panama City, Fl
# of dives
1000 - 2499
Trip Report Coiba (4 days), Malpelo (6 days) trip report on Inula August 4 -18, 2013.

Getting There
Flew Air Panama from Panama City the day before. Inula bus picked me up at my hotel, the Ciudad de David. The trip to the boat moored at Boca Chica took a little over 1 hour. On return, Inula docked in Puerto Pedregal and which was only about 10 minutes from the airport.

The Boat
Inula is a fiberglass catamaran with a capacity of 8 guests. It had 4 crew members, including Arvid who is the owner, skipper, mechanic and one of the dive guides. The Inula is the most basic of any liveaboard I’ve been on. There is no air conditioning but this wasn’t a problem as once away from the mainland the temperature and humidity was reasonable. The boat goes onto battery power a good bit of the time when not in transit, which makes for dead quiet sleeping conditions.

There are 2 toilets and 2 showers onboard. One of the showers is outdoors on the dive deck. Showers water is not heated. Food was tasty and plentiful though a bit basic and repetitive. As a non-Spanish speaker, I couldn’t communicate with any crew member except Arvid.

Diving is by giant stride off the Inula (mostly at Coiba) or back roll off the RIB tender (mostly at Malpelo). Our trip had 4 guests plus one other who was a trial hire. Most of the dives had two guides. The RIB was roomy enough but would have started getting crowded with more guests or large camera setups.

Three dives per day were offered, usually at 7, 11 and 3. Dive times were limited to 60 minutes. Many dives were generally closer to 45 minutes due to air consumption during deep dives (30 to 40m or more). Diving as one group was the normal but buddy diving separately was permitted if dive profile and conditions allowed.

Diving

Coiba Area(4 days diving)
- We were entertained with numerous humpback whale encounters during the transit from the mainland to Coiba area. Sometimes single whale broaches, sometime two or three whales together.
- Dive sites around Coiba tended to have large schools of Jacks, Snappers, and Grunts. Visibility ranged from ok on most sites to poor on one or two others. The poor vis sites were still divable but had the potential to be great.
- Hannibal Banks: Did three dives here. Massive schools of jacks swarming in the clear water. Also had a cownose ray swim up close from a large flock in the distance.

After Coiba, we headed off towards Malpelo. Transit time was about 36 hours each way. Sailing was relatively smooth although one guest experienced sea sickness for almost the entire trip.


Malpelo (6 days diving)
- Humpback whale activity continued at Malpelo. A mother and its calf stayed within view for 2 days. The mother was doing training moves with the calf which then mimicked mamma. Truly was an amazing experience. On day 2 we snorkeled close enough for a brief underwater view and photos. Evidently that was also part of her training, as that was the last we saw of that pair.
- Five or six different whale sharks were seen, some making multiple appearances. One large one stayed at the boat for about 20 minutes on the last day while the crew was scrapping the hull.
- Numerous dolphin encounters including one dive with close up appearances. Many dolphins performing Sea World type stunts throughout the visit.
- Water temperature was 27 - 28 C, except below the thermocline which was at about 25 to 30m. Water near the cleaning station and some dive sites near the main rock had a greenish tint but visibility was generally OK for shark watching. A couple of dive profiles did have to be altered due to poor vis below the thermocline. Visibility was very good at the non-cleaning station sites.
- La Nevera: Dove this site once each morning. Hammerhead schools with up to 20 to 30 visible, more likely but just out of range. Close encounters dependent on ability to hold your breathe. Galapagos sharks also present. Eagle rays were common.
- David and La Sahara: Schools of Hammerheads visible on the white sandy bottom. as we dive well above the bottom due to poor visibility below the thermocline. Saw a flock of about 10 eagle rays on one dive.
- Three Musketeers: Massive schools of fish on this complex dive profile. Big schools of jacks, red snappers, yellow snappers and leather bass.
- Silky shark population had greatly decreased since earlier in the year. A few stragglers were observed. We one time saw a school of about 30 or more getting ready to attack some bait.
- Morey eels where everywhere in great abundance. Very common to see them free swimming outside of holes. Besides the normal check for scorpion fish or urchins, you also had to look out for eels when hiding behind rocks.
- The legendary currents of Malpelo were not present during this trip. A few sites required some medium to hard finning but never to the extent that we would be blown away.

Summary
This was my second time to Malpelo. First time experiences not present during this trip included diving in bait balls and large schools of Silkies. But that trip also had some planned dives relocated due to wicked currents or a thermocline at about 20m with about zero visibility below. This second trip had humpback whales and whale sharks and manageable visibility at all depths. The great diving and experiences far exceeded the negatives of the long crossings and high costs.
 
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Nice report. Thanks for sharing. What were the water temps in Coiba?
 
Thanks for sharing. I've never been to Malpelo, was at Coiba back when it was a penal colony (not as an inmate) and regard it as one of the most beautiful islands along the Pacific coast of the Americas. I recall lots of large grouper, snapper and pelagics. I'll put this trip on my shortlist of must do dives.
 
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