In the Cold Coiba

Our limited time in Panama had us consumed by only two things. One: we were looking for used cars to purchase for our PanAmerican Highway road trip and two: we were out surfing and scuba diving in the Santa Catalina area. I could not think of two more opposite experiences, but regardless, they will both forever hold places in our memories (one of them we’ll perhaps remember more fondly.)

And by that I mean buying a car in Panama was one of those stress-inducing experiences that could make any couple, regardless of their rock solid status, turn against one another. You’re probably asking yourself, “why didn’t you guys just do the sensible thing as travelers usually do…and rent a car?!” You see, our journey through Central America would have us bouncing from country to country over the course of weeks. And in doing so, we would have had to rent car after car for each and every country we entered… all of which would incur obnoxious additional fees, all while battling a language barrier. 

After Adam meticulously crunched the numbers, it turns out just buying a used car saves us the hassle of all this and saves us a good amount of money overall. But despite the hassle of negotiating deals on cars, Santa Catalina, on the other hand, reminded us of why it was worth it to do so in the first place!

I was utterly hell bent on diving Coiba National Park, the island cluster that sits right outside of Santa Catalina on the Pacific Coast. Especially because it was shoulder season and I was keen to see what that meant in these parts. For those unfamiliar, shoulder season refers to the transitional periods between an on and off season. For example, if on-season is summer, and off-season is spring, then naturally, your shoulder season will be spring and autumn. We’ve come to find since being on expedition that off and shoulder seasons offer a lot more than one could expect, as the ocean conditions are just so different, which leaves more room for very unexpected and special happenings if you're lucky! 

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Coiba National Park, located off the Pacific coast of Panama, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site celebrated for its extraordinary biodiversity and striking natural beauty which is quite different then other sites around Panama. Situated in the Gulf of Chiriquí, the park encompasses Coiba Island, the largest island in Central America, and 38 smaller islands and islets. The park covers an impressive 270,125 hectares, making it one of the largest marine parks in the world. Coiba's rich ecosystems include coral reefs, mangroves, and tropical rainforests, providing a sanctuary for a vast array of marine and terrestrial species. This biodiversity hotspot is home to several endangered species, such as the crested eagle and the scarlet macaw, as well as a significant population of marine mammals, including humpback whales, dolphins and sea turtles.

The history of Coiba National Park adds to its intrigue. For much of the 20th century, Coiba Island was a penal colony, which inadvertently protected its ecosystems from human exploitation and development and kept the region quite remote. The prison, which operated from 1919 - 2004, ensured that the island remained largely untouched, allowing its natural habitats to flourish. Panama's most dangerous criminals and political prisoners were sent here due to the island's isolation and harsh conditions, making it an ideal place for this kind of prison. Tales of brutal treatment and desperate escape attempts are part of its dark history.

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One of the most intriguing aspects of Coiba is the legend of buried treasure. According to local folklore, the infamous pirate Henry Morgan, who used Coiba as a hideout in the 17th century, buried a vast treasure on the island. Despite numerous searches, this treasure has never been found. The island's eerie reputation is further enhanced by stories of ghostly apparitions of former prisoners who are said to haunt the abandoned prison buildings. 

Another mystery surrounds the unique wildlife on the island. Due to its isolation, Coiba has become a living laboratory for evolution, with several species found nowhere else on earth. This includes the Coiba agouti, a rodent species, and a unique subspecies of howler monkey. Recognizing its ecological significance, the Panamanian government designated Coiba Island and its surrounding waters as a national park in 1991. Today, Coiba National Park is a crucial area for scientific research and conservation, offering those who make it to this wild wonderland the chance to explore one of the last untouched tropical wildernesses in the Americas.

So, we made the six-hour trek from Panama to Santa Catalina, the first stretch of the road trip in our used 2017 Nissan X-Trail. The road into Santa Catalina was rough and rugged, putting our little car to the test. The route was beautiful though, with huge birds swooping around us and vibrant tropical flowering trees spilling out onto the road. Another massive contrast from the feel of Panama City to this small coastal town. Pulling up, we realized we’d made it to a diver’s sanctuary, with shops literally built on top of one another up and down the main stretch. It was clear there were epic things to see here underwater. 

This was going to be the first non-work dive I had done in almost a year. A purely recreational dive at its finest. Getting to relax, kick back and enjoy the ride. While Marla and Adam opted to surf, I was off to the islands solo, ready to meet my new dive buddies who would be my adopted family for the next few days. There was a full moon party happening that night and in a different life, I would have pulled an all-nighter for that one. But today, as a ripe 36-year old, I opted for an epic fish dinner and strolled along the beach at sunset with the guys looking for shells. How the times have changed... 

Next morning, I was up at 6am and ready to dive. I love solo dive days as I get the chance to meet new people who I know I’ll immediately click with just by virtue of being out there together. So, I was curious as to how the boat would bond. Knowing we had quite a few hours of commuting to the dive sites, there’d be a lot of time to get to know one another. And that day it was me and the boys—a boat filled with a nice mix of guys from all around the world just happy to be alive. Everyone was younger than me either by a decade or a few years, but I was the only woman and the oldest for sure onboard. Ready to tap back into my youth and sync up with these Gen-Z’s, we were off to the sites. 

Santa Catalina is about a 1.5-hour boat ride away from most of the key dive sites. The park, encompassing over 430,000 acres of protected marine and terrestrial environments, is always giving different dive experiences making it hard to know what to expect on any given day. And it’s said that these are some of the healthier coral reefs in the Eastern Pacific. Key dive sites include the iconic Devil's Rock, which is renowned for its dramatic drop-offs and strong currents that attract large pelagic species such as hammerhead sharks, whale sharks, and manta rays. 

Other popular sites are Isla Ranchería and Bahia Damas, where divers can expect to see schools of snapper, jacks, and barracuda, along with colorful reef fish, turtles, and occasional sightings of humpback whales. The nutrient-rich waters around these islands is what is bringing all the good stuff and what has earned Santa Catalina the gold star in Panama for diving. 

We arrived to Isla del Canal de Afuera island, as the conditions were too rough to get out to Cobia Island itself. Even here, the current was visibly ripping at the surface. Really wishing for that chill diving today, it was apparent we were going to be working down there no matter what. Moving around to see if we could dodge it at other sites, we were shit out of luck. The surrounding islands and the view of mainland Panama was breathtaking though, leaving us pretty stoked on the moment regardless of the chop. We were to tough it out, and we went in, as the 28 degree Celsius water filled our suits. We slowly descended and found that the visibility was nice, allowing us to see right to the bottom, with gorgeous corals around the shallows. 

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As we continued on the dive, I encountered an all time first: hectic thermoclines. A thermocline is a transition zone in the water where the temperature makes a drastic change, typically from hot to cold as one descends. And I’ve been hit with them before, but never to this extreme. There was a massive green cloud that consumed our bodies, with the temperature changing from 28 to a shocking 19 in a matter of seconds. Because of the thermocline, it was hard to see what was in front of you, making the diving quite eerie to say the least. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw shadows moving towards us. I felt my heart rate spike and a weird anticipation come over me. It was a group of white tip reef sharks, and a lot of them. 

They were moving fast and right when they came to our faces, they’d dart off in the other direction, one by one. The green cloud would eat them as well, causing them to disappear into the distance. Knowing 28 degree water was somewhere in sight, we all were having a hard time making our way out of the thermocline in part because of the shark activity and also from the disorientation caused by the clouds! It was a weird sensation to feel somewhat stuck, yet loving every moment of that chaos all the while. After about a half hour of thermocline hopping, we made it to swim through systems with some of the most beautiful orange and yellow corals and sponges. And each dive following was exactly the same. Dip, dodge, duck, dive and dodging around the thermocline in search of those warm pockets! 

For one of our surface intervals, we posted up on a secluded beach. And with no other souls in sight, I was reminded of the perks of diving in the shoulder season. It was just us, this motley crew who will likely never see each other again, hanging out as if we’d known each other forever. Butts in sand, each choosing hermit crabs to race against each other in a fierce battle of the fittest. We placed our hermit crabs in a hand drawn circle in the sand and cheered our respective competitors on, praying each of ours would manage to leave the circle first. It was wholesome, childlike fun. 

Back-to-back thermocline dives with raging current tossing us around brought this little group closer to the ocean. It reminded us that she’s a powerful force and one not to be reckoned with at times. Our bodies felt like tiny peas being thrown around the ocean, weightless and in flight. And this is why I love the shoulder season—it keeps things interesting. 

The ride back was rocky and raw, throwing our bodies yet again in an entirely different way. We celebrated surviving the Coiba cold, dressed inappropriately for the underwater occasion. Each day in Santa Catalina brought a breath of fresh air into our group. Mother nature had not made our exploration of the area easy, she truly made us work for it. We left Panama wondering what we’d encounter next out there on our Central American road trip, and what marvels this stretch of the Pacific had in store for us as well.

To be continued … 

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