Santa Catalina and Isla de Coiba, Panama 18 - 21 Dec 2005

World class scuba diving at an unspoilt tropical island

  You might be wondering by now what the hell we were doing in a place like Santa Catalina. Well, according to the guide book, some of the Latin America's best diving spots were to be found at Isla de Coiba, a couple of hours by speed boat from the coast. The plan was for me to get a refresher course in diving from Santa Catalina and complete my open-water diving certificate before heading off on a 2-day dive trip to Isla de Coiba. (I'd got my basic PADI licence on St. Barth, Caribbean, the previous Christmas.) We'd booked the course and the diving trip with a local outfit, Scuba Coiba, run by an Austrian with the rather inauspicious name of Herbie Sunk!! My instructor was a friendly English girl called Rachel Fulton. She put me through exercises in shallow water from the beach while Flemming went diving with another couple and Karin Pointner, an Austrian girl who filmed the divers and the fish they saw. I did fine that morning and completed the exercises successfully, even swimming with my mask off and putting it back on again and clearing it while under water. But when I had to repeat the exercise that afternoon the sea was choppy with a strong current and I didn't feel at all comfortable. As a result, I panicked and breathed water through my nose 5 metres below the surface. Rachel didn't want me to come up too fast due to the pressure difference, so pulled at my legs while I struggled to reach the surface. I finally came up spluttering and considerably shaken.
The next day we set off on the dive trip to Isla de Coiba. There was to be a dive at a place called Faro on the way to the island, but I decided to just snorkel while the others dived. We then continued to the beautiful island where we were to stay that night. Unlike Santa Catalina, the 'research' station was very well managed, with well groomed lawns and beach. But, in spite of it being called a 'research' station, there is no evidence of any research being carried out there. After lunch, while the others went for their seconc dive at Frijoles (lots of current!), I decided to stay behind in the company of the numerous agoutis and iguanas that wandered about. I had a siesta on the beach and then went for a snorkel.