Diving in Panama City early August

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Bre Anne

Registered
Messages
16
Reaction score
4
Location
Jacksonville
# of dives
100 - 199
My boyfriend and I will be in Panama City at the end of july to early august. We were both hoping to get some dives in while visiting some friends there. Does any one have any information for the local show/charters? Also if there are wrecks or reefs that we should check out. If we could do a shore dive that would be awesome as well.
 
Since this is posted in the Central America forum, I'm assuming the OP is talking about Panama City, Panama. I dive in Panama frequently and my recommendation would be to dive with Golden Frog Scuba in Portobelo (Caribbean side of the isthmus).

There is a dive operator on Isla Contadora in the Pacific. Isla Contadora is fairly easy to get to from Panama City. The operator is pretty flaky though, and I've yet to be able to book a dive with him. This lack of responsiveness is not unusual for Panama. Diving off Coiba (also Pacific) is supposed to be spectacular. I haven't done those dives yet as the logistics of getting out to Coiba are just more than I've had time for. You can figure on spending a good day each way between Panama City and Santa Catalina (jumping off point for Coiba).

Portobelo on the other hand is an easy 1.5 hour drive from Panama City. The owner of Golden Frog Scuba (Rey) is super responsive and can help arrange travel for you from the city. He's a small operator and you'll get personal attention. I also highly recommend the thai curry at the hotel restaurant that Rey operates out of!

http://www.goldenfrogscuba.com
 
Ditto Ryan's comments. Rey is a great DM. He also goes to the better dive sites (Tres Hermanas and Salmedina) that the other local dive ops only visit when the seas are totally flat from September through November. Golden Frog's rates are better, too.

I gave up trying to book with the dive operator on Contadora. Plus, one of my Panamanian friends who dove there said the diving is not good off Contadora. She saw very little marine life and no coral.

Isla Coiba is for experienced divers. It's best done as a multi-day dive trip, because it's a 90 minute boat ride from Santa Catalina to Coiba. So, you have to be staying overnight near the island to get to the better dive sites. Santa Catalina is also a 7 1/2 hour drive from Panama City. The conditions are challenging -- deep dives, strong currents, visibility can go from 45 feet to 4 feet in moments. There is a thermocline with a temperature change from mid/low 80s to low 70s/upper 60s. Buoyancy control is a must because safety stops will be in blue water. In spite of all that, the marine life is amazing! Lots of sharks, huge schools of jacks and barracuda, neon frogfish, huge morays and many species of Pacific reef fish. At different times during the year, there are humpback whales calving, whale sharks visiting and mobula rays.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom