Panama

Coiba National Park is one of the largest protected areas in the Eastern Tropical Pacific: Coiba Island, thirty-eight smaller islands and the wide sea area of the Gulf of Chiriquí have been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2005. The region's reputation comes not from the beauty of its reefs but from the density of big animals — whitetip reef sharks, silvertips, schools of hammerheads, rays, turtles and large pelagic fish gather here in the wake of the nutrient flow.

The rules of Pacific diving are different from those of the Caribbean, and you should go knowing that. What decides visibility is plankton: the same murk that brings the big animals keeps clarity in the ten to twenty-five metre range. Rising cold water masses produce thermoclines; water that is 28 degrees at the surface can fall to 20 degrees at twenty metres. The dry season runs from December to April, and sea conditions are at their most predictable in those months. Humpback whales pass through the region between July and October.

Coiba is reached by day boats from the small coastal town of Santa Catalina. Our programme in this region is planned for January, the middle of the dry season, and also covers city days in Panama City.