Panama

Diving and Surfing on Panama’s Southern Coast

From Cerro Punta, we headed to the coastal town of Santa Catalina on a mission to scuba dive in Coiba National Park and surf the numerous breaks on the Santa Catalina coast.

During our journey we’ve found that finding good campsites is almost as important as finding good destinations. And when we pulled into Surfers Paradise, we knew we had found a gem. Perched a few hundred feet above the ocean, Surfers Paradise has an amazing view and is steps away from the Santa Catalina reef break. This break is one of the most famous breaks in Panama and it did not disappoint. As soon as we got there a huge swell moved in, resulting in overhead and double overhead sets that break over a rocky bottom. Unfortunately, the Santa Catalina reef break was a bit too “heavy” for our taste. We saw at least two experienced surfers returning to the hostel covered in blood, one holding a broken board. Hoping to avoid a similar fate, we spent most of our time surfing the Estero beach break which was working well due to the size of the swell.

While in Santa Catalina, we also went scuba diving in Coiba National Park. What attracted us to diving in Coiba National Park was the opportunity to dive with schools of hammerheads on Isla Jicaron, one of the more remote islands in the park. Diving on Isla Jicaron is no joke. Not only do the locals force the dive shops to use sketchy small boats for the 2-hour journey to Isla Jicaron, but the dive sites there, including the “Washing Machine” dive, are known for their strong currents. To make matters worse, the huge swell made diving there extremely challenging. On all three dives the swell pushed us up to 30 feet back and forth in either direction, making it difficult to avoid getting impaled on the sharp volcanic rock and causing an experienced diver in our group to get seasick while diving. Despite the fact that Leah had just gotten certified in Belize, she did an awesome job. And despite the low visibility we did see hammerheads, including some big ones . The experience of having the 7-foot giants with their crazy flat heads emerge suddenly from the deep murky water as we got pushed toward them by the swell was an experience we’ll never forget but would prefer not to repeat.

After Santa Catalina we moved onto the Azuero Peninsula. The Azuero Peninsula is known as Panama’s cultural heartland. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most heavily deforested parts of Panama which made it a bit less interesting. However, we nevertheless had a great time in the area, using Playa Venao as a base camp to explore the surrounding area. Playa Venao also has a lively nightlife including good electronic music and is home to several electronic music festivals including the Sonica Venao festival every March. If you decide that Playa Venao is too developed, there are numerous alternatives on the Azuero Peninsula that have amazing surf and are less busy including Cambutal.