[SCUBA IN PORTABELLO - DAY TRIP]  [SCUBA IN COIBA - 4 DAY TRIP]

The best diving in Panama!

Diving Coiba is often described as a mixture between Galapagos and Cocos Islands. The world famous national park of isla Coiba ,can be reached by boat from Santa Catalina in about 1:00 hour to 1:30 hours.

Our tour leaves from the beach are (Gorona to Playa Blanca) directly to Santa Catalina in about 4 and a half hour. Santa Catalia is also one of Panama`s very few villages located directly at a sandy beach. Still there are a lot more secluded sand beaches in the vicinity, what offer good swimming- and snorkeling opportunities for the non diving guests. We also can organize eco adventure tours to the Coiba national park.

Important nformation :

Tidal exchange of 2 - 5 meters / 6 - 15 ft is present in this area of Panama and causes at
some times currents at several places, what can affect the diving in Coiba as well as
around Santa Catalina. Currents can be strong depending on tides, moon phases and
dive sites.  Some of the best dive sites are frequently swept by currents, therefor they are
the best but you should not accept "swimming pool" conditions on every dive.

The visibility around Coiba is usually between 12 and 25 meters / 40-80 ft, closer to the
Pacific coast of Panama it is  between 10 and 20 meters / 35-70 ft, but can be worse,
depending on currents, thermo climes and tides. You should not expect always perfect
visibility on every dive.

The water temperature at the surface is around 27-29 C / 80-85 F all the year. At depth it
can drop to around 24 C / 75 F, sometimes lower to 19 C / 66 F.  A 3 mm shorty or full  wet
suit is recommended the year around, from late January to mid of May a 5 mm full suit is a
good option at least for serious divers planning on doing more than one or two days of
diving.

The weather conditions and seasons are changing between a dry season December
- May and a rainy season from May to December.

At the beginning of the dry season in December and January visibility can be best and
reaches sometimes 30 or more meters / 100 or more feet. Currents can be very strong
this time of the year. Beginning end of January / mid of February till end of March / mid of
April a continuous north wind brings very dry weather but can affect the surface conditions
and may restrict the access to remote dive sites in the open sea. The upwelling caused by
the north wind and the influence of Pacific currents bring lots of nutrients and with it big
schools of migrating pelagic fish like manta rays, giant pelagic sting rays, tunas, amber
jacks, even Orca whales and more. But this conditions also bring a thermo clime of 19-20 C
/ 66-68 F reaching up to 25 - 30 meters / 80-100 ft depth. While the visibility at the surface
and also down in the cold water is excellent a layer of greenish water between the two
layers starting between 5-15 meter / 15-50 feet depending on dive sites and tides can
reduce the visibility.

In the rainy season the wind ceases and the water calms, the thermo climes are deeper
and till July and August the visibility can range between 12 - 20 meter / 40 - 65 feet down to
recreational depth limits, also the water temperature does not drop lower than 24-26 C /
75-78 F all the way down. Thunderstorms and heavy rain should be expected in the later
afternoons. Humpback whales are visiting the area from July to October. September and
October are the wettest months, winds can make the surface choppy, big amounts of fresh
water in the rivers can reduce the visibility especially at sites close to mainland or to big
rivers at Coiba and lower the surface temperature to 25 C / 76 F. Diving is still excellent this
time of the year, but because of rain and wind it is recommended to take  3 or 4 day trip
into consideration, staying at the ranger station at Coiba, having a lot of dive sites within 15
minutes boat ride from there avoiding lengthy daily boat rides from and to Santa Catalina.

If you are browsing the internet looking for information about Coiba and its marine life
you will find a lot of stories about big sharks, giant sharks and schools of sharks. It is a fact
that 33 species of sharks have been spotted including hammerhead-, bull-, tiger- and whale
sharks. But it is also a fact, that they are not a regular or common sighting. What you will
see  for (almost) sure are lots of white tip reef sharks the year around, as are big schools
of snappers, jacks, grunts, barracudas, bat fish, colourful reef fish like angelfish, butterfly
fish, surgeon-, trigger- and parrot fish, all kinds of moray eels and rare fish like frog fish or
sea horse. At certain times of the year you will see big schools of small manta rays
(mobulas)and other schooling rays like pelagic sting rays, eagle rays or cow nosed rays.
There is a fair chance of seeing turtles and also giant mantas, whale sharks and big sharks
from time to time at certain dive sites, but don´t expect being surrounded by 100´s of
hammerheads at every dive.

Trip to Coiba:

“The multiple days tirps to Coiba require some experience above beginner level and offer up to 3 dives a day also to remotes sites which cannot be reached in one day trips”

We absolutely recommend the experience to stay in Coiba Island…

Typical schedule for Diving adventures for 3 or more days:

Day 1 – Departure from the beach or Panama city depend arrangements, around 9am

Reach Santa Catalina and take the hotel.

4pm-  Meeting at the dive center for sign papers and prepare equipment for the next morning.  Stay overnight in Santa Catalina. Options to stay can be check in www.santacatalinabeach.com but we offer you to tell us where you want to stay and we organize your booking . Contact hotels is very complicate because there is no good communication there, not internet, not phone works constantly.

Day 2- Meeting at dive center  at 08:00 am for  leaving to Coiba (60 or 90 minutes distance by boat)   

          Late morning 1^st diving. Lunch at the Coiba ranger station or beach pick-nick and the second and third dive in the afternoon. Dinner and night at the ranger station.

 Day 3 -  Breakfast at the ranger station, usually 2 dives in the morning, lunch, one dive in the
afternoon and either back to the ranger station for dinner and night at the ranger station.

Day 4  - Breakfast at the ranger station, usually 2 dives in the morning, lunch, one dive in the
afternoon and either back to the ranger station for departing to Santa Catalina. Optional this day could be an “exploring day at the Island”, visiting waterfalls, Coiba penal colony and hiking instead to diving.

Recommentations:

Coiba and also Santa Catalina are in very remote areas and many "normal" things have to be brought from outside. In our multi day trips the diving company have to bring all the food, ice, gasoline for the boat and diesel for the generator in Coiba plus the cook from outside too. In Sta. Catalina are no super markets.

 Bring: Normal things like sun blocker, towels, mosquito repellent etc. just are not available here. Please get everything you might need including cash money from Santiago, what is the last bigger city before turning "south".

There is absolutely nothing to buy in Coiba so if you would like some alcohol, cigarettes, etc. please make sure to bring them.

Contact us for price and more details