Trip Report Isla Coiba, Panama - Just Back

[Nettie-NZ]

Decided that I needed to go somewhere different for diving. Not Asia, not Caribbean, somewhere different, with different underwater conditions and fish.
So along with my wish to see the Panama Canal, Isla Coiba seemed to fit the description quite nicely.
It promised large schools of fish, some pelagics, currents and sharks. It delivered on all these. But down to the nitty gritty.

Logistics - getting there, accom etc:

Panama isn't the cheapest Central American country to go on holiday in. So in line with this, the diving definitely isn't as cheap as offered in the Bay Islands. Not an astronomical price, but not cheap. Getting to Coiba takes a bit of effort - either a pretty much all day trip on buses or renting a car and driving. The buses aren't bad, but especially if you have your own gear with you and there is a group - renting a car would be the best option. Driving in Panama isn't a problem - roads are pretty good and the traffic is orderly - particularly compared with other Central American countries.

To get to Coiba you need go via Santa Catalina. Plenty of accomodation options, ranging from from budget Cabañas to some very nice B&B places. Mostly surfers here, but there are also good options for restaurants etc. All the dive shops are based here. There are three main ones, but either two or three more have opened up more recently. I booked originally with one, but for a variety of reasons ended up diving with Scuba Coiba, who were the first dive shop to open in Santa Catalina.

The only issue with Santa Catalina is that depending on the sea conditions it can be an hour or more to get to Isla Coiba and this can limit the number of dives as well as the choice of dive sites that can be used.

The other option is to stay on Isla Coiba. It does allow much more access to dive sites and it's far easier to get three dives a day in.

As this is a national park, there is only one option - staying at the ranger station. There is dorm accomodation there. Definitely nothing flash. It normally would have electricity to the dorms but the generator was broken (had been for the past 2 weeks) and there was no power. This meant no fans, a/c or lighting and limited options for charging batteries (a small amount of solar power was available for this). Sleeping wasn't the most pleasant - it would have been good to get a breeze through the dorms, but at the same time you are trying to keep the (numerous) insects out.

Please note - this was completely out of the control of any of the dive shops - the ranger station is run by the Panamanian Government. As to why the generator wasn't fixed as well as a number of other minor maintenance issues? Quien sabes? Who knows? It wasn't due to a lack of staff. But as to many things in this part of the world, it really is difficult to know the real reasons.

By comparison Scuba Coiba Staff were excellent. This included the very generous and tasty meals that we had - certainty no complaints about the food.

Would I choose to stay again on Coiba - definitely, yes, if the generator was working, but I might opt to stay at Santa Catalina if there was no power in the dorms.

Next part - the diving! Coming soon...

 

[Lorenzoid]

We brought small, battery-operated fans to deal with the reported heat and insect issues, but the days we were there turned out to be quite pleasant.

 

[USdiver1]

And the Diving????

 

[Nettie-NZ]

Now the diving.

The weather was extremely variable when I was there. One day it would rain in the morning, but not in the afternoon, next day it would rain at night - completely unpredictable! The weather at this time of year 'normally' follows a pattern of dry in the morning and a bit of rain in the afternoon or evening. But these days, it's so difficult to work out what is happening, especially going from a strong El Niño pattern to La Niña.

Because of these unpredictable and changeable conditions it was very difficult to work out what the dive sites would be like. Currents and viz were almost unpredictable.

The underwater terrain is mostly rocky with small amounts of coral. It's not regular with defined walls - at times quite random rock profiles with sometimes rubble, sometimes huge boulders creating walls. There are really distinct thermoclines. One moment you would be nice and warm (28-29 Deg C) in tropical water - drop down through a thermocline and it would instantly drop to around 19-22 Deg C and I would feel like I was a bit closer to home in New Zealand (our summer temperatures). This was common to all the dives that I did.

On the first day we dived close to the ranger station. Despite heavy rain in the morning it changed to beautifully sunny weather. While the viz was good, it wasn't perfect, probably 10-15m. However with the nice light it gave a taste of what Coiba had the potential for. Right from the first dive there were numerous white tip reef sharks, pelagic stingrays as well as eagle rays out in the blue and big schools of trevallies. The only other place I've dived in with similar schools of larger trevallies like this was at Sipidan. The second dive produced even more variety with a young giant frog fish as well as turtles in the blue. This was an interesting dive - first five metres had a very strong surface current, then below that, no current - an easy dive, despite the entry

On the second day we ventured a bit further away to Contreras. They had recently seen hammerheads at these dive sites, but unfortunately a combination of less viz and not such a bright sunny day meant that even if there was hammerhead around, we might not have seen it out in the blue. Again there was no shortage of fish life including lots of morays, huge stone triggerfish - these are the largest type of triggerfish and it as the first time I had seen some. From what the dive guide told us, they aren't aggressive like Titan triggerfish or some of the other types.

There were lots of large stingrays, barracudas as well as some nice looking big lobsters - I'm sure the lobsters knew they were safe in the marine park - they were just sitting out exposed, not hiding in holes.

The currents were a bit more interesting here too - at one stage we encountered a little bit of a down current, so we ended up doing a bit of rock climbing to get out of it. Nothing too strong, but more unpredictable and changeable. I really enjoyed the day diving, but some better light would have made the photography better.

On the third day we stayed close to Coiba again. We repeated one of the dive sites from the first day - this time it was a completely different experience! The currents had changed and instead of being only a surface current there was a strong current right down to the bottom (15-20m). We spent sometime (and air) sheltering in the rocks and doing a bit of rock hopping around to a point. Unfortunately it didn't seem like the current was going to get any better around the corner - it was potentially worse, so wisely the dive guide turned the dive into a drift dive. It was a nice steady drift and we just took in the scenery as it went past. Unfortunately again, not such a bright sunny day so it was difficult to see much out in the blue, but still a very enjoyable drift dive. It really was surprising, just how different this dive site was from the previous time there.

Overall I enjoyed Coiba. The diving was fun even if unpredictable. Some better light and viz would have been excellent, but it was still highly enjoyable. The dive guide we had, Cedric was extremely professional and great to dive with.

 

[gb_williams]

Very nice report! Thank you! I can't wait to go back to Coiba. It's definitely an adventure.

 

[USdiver1]

I recall fondly both Islas Contreras and Islas Secas from my visit to Coiba back in its penal colony days in the 1990s. We traveled all around the perimeter of Coiba (at sea) and as far away as Isla Montuosa, and anchored off of Isla Rancherita to pass the night. We had to all go armed, as well as post a night watch due to the constant threat of a prisoner escape. Times have changed in the past quarter century.

 

[cathleen]

thanks for the info, will rent a car, and drive up there and check it out, hoping for sun and working generator!

 

[mselenaous]

Great trip report. Glad to hear Coiba still has magical diving. Is Herbie Sunk still running Scuba Coiba?
I first dove with him in April 2005, then moved to Sta Catalina that August and was there a year. Truly one of the best adventures of my life.

 

[Nettie-NZ]

Yes, Herbie is still there