Snorkeling Coiba National Park
I was up before my alarm of 6:45 and got ready and had a bowl of Coco Krispies before we set out for our snorkeling adventure day to Coiba National Park (http://coibanationalpark.com/). We arrived right on time for 8:00, but getting our snorkeling gear, paying our remainder balance, and waiting on others for the tour meant that we didn’t actually start walking to the boat until 9:00.
The boats are real small and only hold a maximum of 12 people. We had 11 in our boat, 3 that spoke French (not sure exactly where they were from), 4 from Canada, and us. Luis was our guide and he told us it would take over an hour to get to our first destination. The ride was very bouncy and would not be good for someone who has a bad back. We did come across a pod of dolphins that the boat swung around for so we could get a closer look. It’s always so much fun to see dolphins up close.
Our first stop was to Isla Coiba which is the largest of the islands in the park. Here we stopped in the visitor center and learned more about the island and the wildlife it contains. I learned some interesting facts like the island was used as a penal colony from 1919-2004 and that the crocodile population greatly declined because the prisoners ate them. We also did a very short hike up some very nicely constructed steps (I’m not being sarcastic, it was nicely done) and got a view of some of the other islands in the park that we would be snorkeling near. I also had time to wander the small beach for a few minutes and picked up a couple pieces of sea glass.
Next up was our first snorkeling stop of the day. Here we followed Luis around a small island and saw tons of fish and a white tipped shark. We were hoping to see a sea turtle, but none came into view. I think we snorkeled for about an hour around the island. The water was super warm and it was like snorkeling in an aquarium. So awesome!!
A short boat ride later and we were at our second snorkeling stop. Here again we saw tons of fish (including a trumpet fish), another white tipped shark, but also 2 manta rays and 2 sea turtles!! The whole group didn’t follow Luis on this expedition because you had to be a confident snorkeler and swimmer to swim a little bit against the current. One of the Canadians had a GoPro and when we saw the shark and turtle (separate occasions) Luis took his GoPro and dived down at least 30 feet to get some video. The turtle actually swam towards the camera. I imagine the video is going to be epic! I gave him my email address, so I hope he does share that video with me as he said he would. Their wives didn’t snorkel this part and when we got back to the boat we were all going on about what we had seen until we realized how disappointed they were that they missed it.
The next stop was back to Isla Coiba for lunch. When we made the reservation they asked us what we wanted between Italian, chicken and rice, and there might have been another choice. We all said chicken and rice, so we were surprised when everyone from the boat was served the exact same plate of rice, potato salad and pasta salad. There was no chicken to be seen, but what we did have was good (minus the peppers). After lunch it was back in the boat to the next stop.
Next up was Isla Ranchera to relax, walk the beach and swim in the water. I took my cell phone along to be our group photographer and snapped a few photos. The water was excellent and we all enjoyed our time here.
We had one more snorkeling stop of the day and here everybody got to see turtles!!! We saw so many turtles we lost count. Most of the turtles we saw were pretty much on the ocean floor, but one swam up to get a breath of air. My favorite part is watching them swim in the water. Among the many fish and coral, we also saw a sea snake. I’m happy that one stayed on the ocean floor!
With that our snorkeling and tour was done and we made the over hour boat ride back to Santa Catalina riding the bumps and waves the entire way. We got back around 4:15 and we all agreed it was an excellent day. So far, this is in my top 3 things we have done in Panama (the other two are the hike on La India Dormada in El Valle and the cooking class in Panama City).
It again took 30 minutes to get back to our house (not sure what’s worse – riding the boat on choppy water or the car in pothole hell . . .it’s kind of similar) so it was around 5:00 when we got back and I had enough daylight to do another beach walk. I set out walking against the wind back in the direction Linda and I had gone yesterday morning and went a little further around the bend, before I turned around for the walk back with the wind against my back. Linda had made BLTs for dinner and Laurie made tuna noodle salad. They had already eaten, but left the food out for me so I made myself a sandwich and put myself on clean-up and dishes duty.
With dinner complete it was time to pick what game we were going to play. I suggested Mexican Train since we can’t take the dominoes with us. It was a close competition between Linda and myself, but tonight I pulled out the win by 2 points!
Tomorrow we check-out of this AirBnB and move on to our next location which is an almost 4 hour drive away (but probably at least an hour of that is in pothole hell and the curvy roads before we get to the major highway). I cleaned up my treasures from this leg of the journey, finally took a shower to get the salt off, applied a bunch of aloe, and now writing the blog. I’m looking forward to what adventures the next location brings us.
Stats of the Day:
Steps: 16,263
Steps from above number that are attributed to the boat slamming on water: Approximately 5,000
Sand Dollars cleaned: 27
Sunscreen SPF I should have used: At least 30
Sunscreen SPF I used: 0 (rookie mistake)
