Blogs from Coiba Island, Veraguas, Panama, Central America Caribbean

Every great diving trip…starts actually around a dive…somewhere else! Back in April, with my friends in Koh Lipe, we had this talk about where to dive in Latin America. Then, Sergi came with this…there is this place on the Pacific in Panama….I don’t remember the name, but it’s a Santa something…and they seems to have a lot of the big ones. Went on google once back home to find out that it was Santa Catalina, and the Island of Coiba…and yes, it looks fun….thanks Sergi, it was actually pretty amazing! Santa Catalina was first known for the surf….than diving started here in 2003. This place looks like Asia must have been in the 60’s….way before I was born, when things were more…simple… Most people have actually never heard about this place….specially in the diving world…and to ... read more

Up early with the birds. As always. Someone told us about a bakery down the road, that's attached to the library, that is amazing so we are heading there to find some treats for in between our dives today. We gave away the rest of our PB yesterday thinking we wouldn't need it today, oh well, & it's impossible to find PB out here supposedly. The bakery is owned by a Spanish woman who, like most Spanish women, chatted away to us while we were checking out her baked goods. I love how chatty the Spanish are. We bought a couple slices of Tortilla Espanola & a loaf of baguette & headed back to our hostel. We made some egg sandwiches on baguette for breakfast & switched rooms before heading out to the dive shop. We'll ... read more

This morning we made egg sandwiches for breakfast. I'm becoming accustomed to American cheese, which I normally really dislike, but when that is all you have to choose from you can't be too picky. We also made some hard boiled eggs to take with us & a bunch of random snacks, like PB & banana sandwiches, chips & cookies, to tide us over during the day between dives. It is clear blue skies this morning. Yippee! After getting our dive gear at the shop we headed out to the boat on the beach. The boats were all kind of stuck in this little lagoon that is easier to access during high tide when the waterway is full, it's now low tide & not quite so easy. But exciting! We got on the boat & headed out ... read more

2/28/11 (Barb) Just when you think life is calm and serene the crap hits the fan. This morning Skip and I were sitting and drinking coffee while munching on fresh pineapple and papaya and Skip was reading and I was chatting with my friend Mary B. on facebook. All was peaceful. Then just as I finished chatting Skip says to me (and folks I'm not using quotation marks cuz it's just too much work for this)...so Skip says..Barb is this yours and he shows me a little black bundle that I did not recognize. I said no. So I”m reading my email and he says Are you trying to drive me crazy by playing a joke on me? And I say what are u talking about. And he says My 2 wallets (he uses 2..one for ... read more