A Jurassic Park Hidden Amongst a Surfer's Paradise in Santa Catalina

“Think of the number of fish you have seen elsewhere and double it. Think about the size of the fish you have seen and double that as well. That sums up the promise of diving… Coiba.”

-       Diver Magazine, May 2005

When I began my journey three and a half months ago I had planned no more than to start in Costa Rica and head south, with hopes of ultimately reaching Patagonia. Everywhere I ventured was based on the recommendations of fellow travellers. And Santa Catalina was no exception. It was rumoured to have every type of break you can possibly imagine, including the best point break in all of Central America. I decided to spend my remaining days in Panama surfing here, but little did I know what would lie just twenty-two metres under my board...

Upon arriving to Santa Catalina late January 4^th, 2014 I hitched a ride from a Panamanian man to where he claimed was the best spot in town, Hostal Surfer's Paradise. It was a quaint, family-run hostel perched on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I pitched my tiny, single-man tent on a patch of grass under the shade of a palm tree at the edge of this cliff. In the evenings it gave me a front-row seat to the most gorgeous sunsets and, in the mornings, to Santa Catalina’s infamous point break, ‘La Punta’.

Stoked to discover that Santa Catalina has not one, but several fruit & vegetable trucks!

Crowd starting to gather at La Punta

La Punta was a challenge to get to: I cut-up my feet while getting into the water, had to negotiate numerous rocks and paddle 350 – 500 metres to get to the break. However, the beautiful, ‘A’-frame –shaped wave was well worth the hassle. Besides the fun wave, the water was crystal clear such that I could see the rocks just a few feet below my board as I surfed. Unfortunately, out of my time in Santa Catalina I only managed to get in four days of surfing due to a lack of swell. On the other hand, this also prompted me to make use of my new PADI certification and scuba dive, which proved to be a real adventure.

Santa Catalina (A) & Coiba National Park (B)

While I was well aware of the world-class surfing Santa Catalina had to offer, I had no idea that it was also a huge diving destination. Located in the Gulf of Chiriquí, Coiba National Park’s underwater topography was linked to that of the Coco and Galapagos Islands by way of the Cordillera mountain range. This means that all three spots provide habitat to many of the same species. Nevertheless, I was skeptical of the quality of diving here due to the poor visibility I experienced spear-fishing in the Pacific Ocean. But after several days with no surfing and lots of reading, I was itching to do something...

Scuba diving was the solution. After checking out every dive shop in town I decided to go with Scuba Coiba, the first to open in Santa Catalina. A group of us boarded the boat early in the morning and began the hour-long ride to Coiba National Park. Within minutes I saw dolphins jumping straight-up and completely out of the water as if putting on a show for us in an aquarium. The closer we got to the national park the more and more it seemed we were going back in time to the Jurassic era. There was not a sign of human life among the numerous, densely forested islands. The water was clear and ranged from shades of turquoise to baby blue. Before long we dropped anchor at our first dive site, ‘Iglesia’.

Iglesia dive site

Hasta luego

Diving at Iglesia was a wild experience. The thermoclines here were incredible. I could see a clear line where there was a significant and sudden drop in temperature by what felt like 10ºC - on the cold side of this thermocline, one could see a mirage resembling the waves of heat rising from a barbeque. Furthermore, when we descended to twenty-two metres we were immediately at the mercy of the ocean current, just as in the movie Finding Nemo. I felt as if I were diving in the rapids of a river; we would establish neutral buoyancy and just let the current take us over the terrain, taking hold of rocks or ducking into eddies behind rocks if we wanted to pause to look at something a little more closely.

While there was no colourful reef as there was in the Caribbean, the animals here were bigger, more plentiful and more spectacular. The jacks, barracudas, and every other fish I saw was bigger than I thought possible. They often swam in schools of hundreds, creating the impression that they were even larger. Even the conches were of gigantic proportions. But there were also small creatures, such as seahorses that wrapped their tails around vegetation on the ocean floor as monkeys do around tree branches. But for me, the highlight was swimming with the white-tip reef sharks. I was definitely a little nervous at first, which may explain why I ran out of air in only 39 minutes as opposed to my 45-55 minute norm.

White-tip reef shark

School of mobula

Eel

Sea horse

Frogfish

After lunch we headed to our second dive spot, ‘Wahoo’. This spot is famous because of it’s saturation with algae and plankton which attracts giant mantarays, whale sharks and, depending on the time of year, whales. While we didn’t spot any of these on our dive, we were fortunate to witness a school of mobula fluttering near the surface of the water, several massive eels hiding between rocks and a frogfish chilling on the ocean floor.

While it was disappointing that I didn't get to witness the full potential of Santa Catalina's breaks, I am thankful for the small swell for it encouraged me to dive in Coiba National Park. Prior to this experience I was unaware of the variety of animals that roamed just metres under the surface of the ocean, and I must say that this revelation has piqued my interest in scuba diving.

Fam Jam in Pedasí

My 10 hour, cross-country bus ride from Bocas del Toro (A) to Panama City (B)

On December 23rd, 2013 my friends and I split in Bocas del Toro and headed our separate ways - Mark and Adrian left for Nicaragua, while I headed to Panama City to meet my family for Christmas. After ten hours in a freezing cold, air-conditioned bus, I arrived to the big city only to discover that my family's flight was cancelled due to an ice storm and it was unlikely that they would be able to make it out to visit me. This was disappointing at first, but then I realized that I would at least get to enjoy the luxurious accommodations they had booked.

The 'new' Panama City

The 'old' Panama City, i.e. Casco Viejo

Panama Canal

Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal

My luxurious room in Riu Plaza Hotel

The Riu Plaza Hotel was located right in the heart of Panama City, and was a real treat after three months of travelling on a tight budget. Here I took my first hot shower in months, watched satellite television, and slept in a real bed rather than in a hammock or on the ground. While this was great, after a few days I was keen to get back to the beach. Fortunately, my family managed to find a way to get to Panama City just in time to join me!

Sibling love

My family and I loaded up our rental car and set out for Pedasí on December 26th. Driving through Panama was a new experience for me, and presented a host of challenges that I was not yet accustomed to; ensuring that I was getting on the correct bus was the typical obstacle for me when travelling from place to place but, when driving, it was the lack of signage on the roads. Google maps were useless in Panama, especially in the rural parts, as there were no road signs. Furthermore, even road maps were difficult to use as the towns rarely advertised their names. We would have to repeatedly stop and ask the locals for directions. This is where I came in handy - my Spanish had finally gotten to the point where I could hold a basic conversation, which my parents took advantage of throughout their visit.

View of the rolling hills on the way to Playa Venao

Several detours and six hours later, we arrived to Playa Venao Hotel Resort. The hotel was right on the beach, on the tip of the Azuero Peninsula. It had beautiful thatch-roof huts tucked into the jungle and an infinity pool overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Playa Venao was the liveliest beach I've yet to see in Central America. The beach was covered with people 'sun-baking' and the water was filled with surfers, body-boarders, and SUPs. On New Year's, beach-goers were entertained by a DJ from Ibiza and skydivers.

NYE Entertainment

I was also fortunate to be able to spend my birthday with mi familia in Panama. I spent the day surfing under the sun, which is pretty atypical for a December baby from Canada! 

The boys of the family waiting for the set to roll in

Proof that I do go right for all the non-believers

Surprised to find a birthday wish written in the sand on my way out of the surf

Birthday dinner with the family

Due to the flight fiasco, my family was forced to find another place to stay for the last few nights of their visit. In search of a vacancy during peak season, I was dragged from hotel to hotel by my folks for translating purposes, while my siblings got to enjoy the day at the beach. This was a drag at first, but at least I got to see more of the country and some wildlife too.

Pelican on the hunt

Crab

Parrot

This little guy managed to get tangled in my hair

Shocked to see an Emu, looked very Jurassic Park-ish

After hours of searching, we found a place to stay at Posada Los Destiladeros. It consisted of a number of cabinas amongst the forest overlooking the beach. The accommodation was very rustic, with the chairs, countertops and sinks and even bath tubs made from wood. The beach was beautiful - sandy and less populated than Playa Venao - and great for swimming or just relaxing.

It was great to see my family for my birthday and New Year's, but I am excited to tent-it on the beach and get back to the simple life that accompanies it!

A Taste of the Caribbean Along the Gringo Trail

On December 12^th, 2013 I left my simple beach bum life in Nicaragua for Juan Santamaría International Airport in Costa Rica, where I was to await the arrival of two pals of mine from back home. I had had some unbelievable experiences in Nicaragua and while I was sad to be leaving, I was also excited to see some familiar faces and explore the Caribbean coast for the first time.

After picking-up Marko and Adrian from the airport and haggling with cab drivers over fare prices, we found a hostel in San José just blocks from the bus terminal for Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, our first Caribbean destination. The next morning we woke and packed, eager to get out of the big city. We weaved through crowds of people for nearly thirty minutes to get to the Terminal Caribe, only to discover that we had gone to the wrong bus terminal; the bus for Puerto Viejo left from the San Carlos Terminal, which, ironically, was only a few minutes from our hostel. We were further disappointed when we arrived to the correct terminal and there were no seats left on the bus for Puerto Viejo – the three of us would have to stand in the aisle throughout the hot, six hour ride.

Marko & Adrian at Terminal San Carlos, ready to hit the playa

Typical beach of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca was a small, touristy town on the Southern-most Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica, and was very different from all the villages I visited on the Pacific Coast. The Caribbean Sea was baby blue and clear, and the reef was much more prevalent here than on the Pacific Coast. There was also a strong Rastafari culture, which was completely absent amongst the indigenous people on the Pacific Coast.

In addition to these differences, Tarapacky also managed to get me back on the well-beaten gringo trail. His extensive research on 'party hostels' led us to Rockin J's, a huge hostel on the beach offering everything from hammocks ($7 US per night) to a honey-moon sweet ($70 US per night). While I stayed in the hammock, Mark and Tara opted to stay in tents. The hostel was covered in mosaics and fostered a very cool atmosphere. It was definitely a great place to start off the night.

Hammock City

Mark in the Tent Slum

Saturday night entertainment

The highlight of our time in Puerto Viejo was exploring the area with quads. We each rented an ATV and took off down every side road we could find between Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo. While doing doughnuts in the white-sanded beaches, which wasn't so legal, both Mark and I almost flipped our quads. The boys were pretty stoked to have found some coconuts and to have learned how to properly open them to first get the coconut water and then get at the meat.

Marko just managed to skid to a stop before driving his ATV through the hole in this bridge

Enjoying the view after several close calls on the quads

Marko and Adrian working on opening a coconut

Success

Banana tree

Our Caribbean Route: Puerto Viejo (A), Manzanillo (B), & Isla Colón (C)

On December 16^th we headed to Bocas del Toro, Panama. While Marko and Adrian had no problem crossing the border, the official turned me down - apparently a digital picture of a Word document on my computer screen was not sufficient proof of onward travel from Panama. After an hour or so at the internet café I tried again and fortunately they let me through into Panama!

Bocas del Toro was totally different than any place I've seen in Central America to date. It was comprised of numerous islands, requiring water taxis to get anywhere. We stayed in the capital city, Bocas Town on Isla Colón, in another party hostel courtesy of Adrian Tarapacky - Mondo Taitu Bar & Hostel. This hostel was a blast. It played great music and had a theme every night, of which our favourite was 80's night power hour - 60 minutes, 60 songs, and 60 shots of beer. Better yet was our pimp suite, a tree-house with two beds, a hammock, and a private bathroom for $36 US a night.

Sketchy bridge crossing into Panama 

Bocas del Toro, Panama

Bocas Town, Isla Colón

Christmas vibe in Mondo Taitu

Pre-drink in Mondo Taitu

Our tree-house

The water in Bocas del Toro was the clearest I've ever seen, which encouraged us to give scuba diving a try. We completed a three-day Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) open water certification course with Freddy of Bocas Water Sports. While Freddy said we weren't his best students, he said we were certainly his funnest. Our first enclosed water dive was hilarious - Tara had a full-blown panic attack under water while Mark kept re-surfacing due to water inhalation. Once these issues were resolved, all went smoothly other than the fact that Marko ran through his oxygen in half the time as the rest of us.

Marko upset to have failed quiz#1 (he managed to pass on the second try!)

Despite these initial obstacles, we all passed the written exams (eventually) and practical underwater drills. We learned a tonne of skills, including how to equalize our internal air spaces when experiencing a squeeze, how to share oxygen in case of an emergency, how to clear water out of our masks underwater, and how to avoid decompression illness when diving multiple times in a day.

Marko nailing the water entry

Enclosed water drills

We completed four open water dives in Bocas del Toro: Punta Manglar, Airport, HDP and Log. Each of these spots were completely different, but our favourite was HDP by far. The colourful reef at HDP was full of life, I felt as if I were on another planet. We saw everything from sting rays and lobsters to schools of fish numbering in the hundreds.

Thrilled at the end of one of our first open water dives

Scuba diving wasn't the only new experience I had in Bocas, it was here that I also surfed my first reef break - Black Rock. From Isla Colón I would take a water taxi for $2 US to the break, surf until I was tired, and try to hail a taxi once finished. This was a surreal experience. A channel on either side of the reef also made it incredibly easy to get back to the break, for I wouldn't have to battle breaking waves on my way. Adrian and Mark got hooked on surfing, and it appears I may have a couple of surfing pals for my future trips.

Pura Vida