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MV Yemaya II
Scuba Diving Trips & Shark Diving Trips - Dive Cocos with Coiba Dive Expeditions
This is two-part trip report. The first part describes that absolutely outstanding dive operation offered experienced ADVANCED divers aboard the MV Yemaya. The second part describes the complete incompetence of the trip arrangers who put together the trip to Panama. I would normally use the word “organizers” but I can’t use that word because there wasn’t any organization.
PLEASE understand that the information contained in Part 2 should not be interpreted as a statement that I did not enjoy myself thoroughly in the challenging conditions around Coiba Island; I HAD A BLAST.
PART 1
TRAVEL INFORMATION
The trip began with a 4 hour direct flight on United from Houston to Panama City, Panama airport (PTY). The flight was smooth, easy, and completely uneventful. Once at the Panama City airport, a taxi ride into the downtown area is needed to get to your hotel. The taxi fare is $30 per person one way.
I stayed at the Toscana Inn in downtown Panama City Panama City Hotels Panama | Toscana Inn Hotel | Republic of Panama on Friday night and the extra night on Saturday. I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn on the following Saturday night just to get the experience of a different hotel in the city.
Ciudad de Panama Hotels | Hilton Garden Inn Panama | Ciudad de Panama,
Both hotels are extremely clean, well maintained and operated very well. However, I preferred the Hilton Garden Inn. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Toscana Inn, I just preferred the Hilton.
From downtown Panama City, Panama it took a 4.5 hour van ride South from the city to the small riverside hamlet where divers pick up the tenders to the Yemaya. If the tide is high enough, the Yemaya is waiting for divers at the dock at the riverside hamlet. If the tide is not high enough, the Yemaya tenders are at the dock to transfer divers from the mainland to the Yemaya which is about a 20 minute tender ride. Bring small denominations of US dollars to tip the baggage handlers at the hotels and the baggage handlers who take your dive baggage from the mainland to the tenders or Yemaya. The baggage handlers also ask for tips at the end of the trip when they remove your baggage from the Yemaya to the van for the return trip to Panama City.
MV YEMAYA II
MV Yemaya
Step aboard the MV Yemaya II to enjoy a week’s worth of adventure diving in the Eastern Pacific waters around Coiba Island.
The ship is a spotlessly clean 115 feet vessel that has 8 staterooms and accommodates 16 guests. The ship is captained by the ever popular and extremely able-body seaman Captain Willem. The upper deck is a large open area with plastic chaise loungers for sitting and sunning between dives. The dining tables and chairs are under cover on the upper deck. The upper deck contains very comfortable space to move around. There were 20 divers on the boat and you never felt like you were cramped on the upper deck.
The lower deck included the cabins and the Salon area.
The dive guides are Reto (Rey-Toe) and Arthur. Both dive guides are of Swiss origin and live in Columbia.
The crew in the background that we hardly ever saw performed flawlessly to keep the Yemaya in extremely clean condition. These folks work constantly to keep the ship operating at peek performance and they do a fabulous job. They need to be recognized for the outstanding work they do to keep the ship clean and visitors comfortable.
The chef, not a cook by any expanse of the imagination, was stupendous. Our pallets were entertained by grilled lobster (2 per person), beef tenderloin for lunch, Paella, fresh tuna, mahi mahi, omelets and scrambled eggs, the freshest French bread at each meal, fresh garden salads with homemade dressing. If my memory serves me correctly, we never had sandwiches for lunch; it was always a hot meal. I honestly believe that I gained 10 pounds on this trip even though we were burning major calories with the current we experienced.
DIVING COIBA ISLAND
I would NOT recommend this dive adventure for a newly certified Advanced Open Water diver who has little to no experience in current and maybe 25 dives. This is not your Cozumel drift diving experience. So don’t think that since you dove/dived a couple of drift dives in Cozumel you will be comfortable in Coiba Island currents. THIS IS NOT A DIVE LOCATION FOR OPEN WATER CERTIFIED DIVERS; YOU NEED EXPERIENCE FOR THIS DIVE ADVENTURE.
There were several “experienced” divers on the ship who sat out many dives due to the stiff currents and cold water.
You will need to have experience with operating and deploying a Submersible Marker Buoy (SMB or “Safety Sausage”) at depth in stiff current; each dive required it.
The week we dove/dived around Coiba Island the weather was perfect; calm seas and little rain. When the rains came it only occurred twice, once in the early morning and once in the late evening.
Diving is done off of two tenders/skiffs from the Yemaya. The tenders accommodate 10 divers with tanks stored in the center of the tenders and divers sitting on fiberglass benches on either side of the tanks. There is gear storage directly beneath each diver’s position to store mask, fins, snorkel, gloves, cameras, etc. The tenders do not have camera tables or rinse tanks or water or snacks. The tenders do have O2, First Aid Kits, and radios.
The tender captains use GPS to locate the dive sites.
Entry on every dive is back rolls with negative entries.
I dove/dived Nitrox the entire week.
DIVE SITES
Jaciarita Reef – Manageable current; Checkout dive; 81 degrees at surface 70 degrees at 62 feet; viz 10 feet due to massive amounts of plankton. No photos as the viz was suboptimal for simple point and shoot camera.
Washing Machine – Stiff current; 80 degrees at surface, 72 degrees at 80 feet; viz 15 feet.
Cathedral – Stiff current; 76 degrees at surface, 70 degrees at 76 feet; Yellow Frogfish, Large Manta; viz 10 feet.
Hannibal Bank (2 times) – MAJOR CURRENT; 78 degrees at surface, 68 degrees at 106 feet; dive consisted of hanging on mooring line to 106 feet, released mooring line and kicked into current for 3 minutes steady- at the end of the 3 minute kick the mooring line was directly behind me. Too many jellies to count; stung repeatedly on face and neck. The second dive however, 2 hours later, had little current, viz 50 feet, and a huge school of Jacks.
Twin Peaks – Stiff current; 84 degrees at surface 71 degrees at 84 feet; viz 20 feet; large moray eels, several spotted sting rays. Surface interval-kayaked to island traveled down freshwater stream found deceased 6 foot crocodile.
Prospect Rock – MR. TOAD’S WILD RIDE CURRENT; a commercial diver on our tender estimated the current to be 8 knots; current started out manageable at beginning of dive then we crawled hand over hand on the rocks 15 minutes into the dive; if it weren’t for an old mooring line to catch us in the current the next stop was American Samoa.
Roller Coaster – Stiff current; 86 degrees at surface, 71 degrees at 86 feet; viz 20 feet; Scorpionfish.
Fisherman’s Dream – Stiff current; 81 degrees at surface, 64 degrees at 92 feet; viz 100 feet; large green turtle; white tip sharks, Triggerfish, arrow crab.
La Viuda – Wicked current; 79 degrees at surface, 69 degrees at 81 feet; viz 50 feet; Yellow Pufferfish.
Don Juan – Manageable current; 79 degrees at surface, 71 degrees at 80 feet; viz 50 feet; Moorish Idols, white tip sharks.
Bajo 20 – Stiff current; 76 degrees at surface, 60 degrees at 94 feet; viz 100 feet at depth; site should be renamed “Eel City”; hundreds of moray eels of different colors with significant length and girth; Shore Excursion to Coiba National Park where Tito the 12 foot crocodile resides.
El Faro – Manageable current; 78 degrees at surface, 70 degrees at 50 feet; viz 30 feet do to plankton in water; white tip sharks, moray eels, siting of Whale Shark tail at safety stop.
Wahoo Rock – Mild current; 78 degrees at surface, 70 degrees at 60 feet; viz 50 feet; moray eels, spotted eels, large bait ball of Jacks.
Pequenito Isla Afuerita (Reto's Dive Site) – Mild current; 80 degrees at surface, 77 degrees at 60 feet; Monster sting rays (no Mantas), various moray eels.
Divers will experience variations of current at all of the above dive sites; current strength and direction will change during each dive that will test a diver’s buoyancy and maneuvering skills.
GLOVES are necessary for every dive. If you’re not hanging onto a mooring line for dear life, you’re grabbing rocks and boulders along the bottom to make your way through the current. I wore out a pair of new Henderson 3mm Insta-Dry gloves by the end of the week. On several of the colder dives I wore Aqua-Lung Therma-Flex 5mm gloves; really nice gloves.
As far as thermal protection goes, we were told prior to leaving for the trip that the water temps were cooler than expected and to expect water temperatures in the mid-60s to very low-70s. I have a very low threshold for cold. I packed a brand new O’Neill 7/12mm with integrated hood (7mm on the extremities 12mm on the torso). It took 26lbs to get underwater…YIKES. I usually dive in a 3mm that takes 6lbs to be comfortable in the water. Although the 7/12 kept me toasty warm, I moved through the water like a Mack Truck plowing through the water. The only thing that saved my week was one of my dive buddies packed an extra 5mm that he loaned to me and it fit me like a glove. Although I was cold on most dives with the 5mm, at least I could move in the water with a reasonable amount ease.
Would I go on another trip to Coiba Island? Unlikely. There are too many other destinations I want to see before I return to Coiba. However, I will use my experiences on the Coiba Island trip to seriously consider trips to Cocos and Galapagos.
Would I dive with MV Yemaya to a different destination? ABSOLUTELY! The ship and the crew performed effortlessly and it was FUN.
Was the trip worth the experience? ABSOLUTELY! I thoroughly enjoyed stretching my skill level in the cold water and currents that I experienced at Coiba. I developed a greater confidence after the trip knowing that I can function quite well in stiff currents.
PART 2- TRAVEL ARRANGERS
Take it for what is worth. The information is provided to help you eliminate as much travel stress and anxiety, particularly when traveling outside the U.S.
The Coiba Island adventure was presented by representatives of Land Sea Air Excursions/Oceanic Expeditions, John Holder and Paul Murphy.
Their initial presentation indicated that they were experienced international travel planners and travelers.
The trip information provided to prospective dive adventurers was 6-days of action-packed diving with three to four dives per day all costs and fees included in the price listed on the information sheet including transportation to and from the Yemaya and each diver’s respective hotel.
Upon arrival in Panama City on Friday afternoon, the emails started to fly from Paul that additional fees were required to be paid on Saturday morning and to have cash available.
The “as advertised” 2 hour Motor Coach ride discussed in the travel presentation turned into a 4.5 hour van ride in extremely cramped conditions.
For no explanation provided on Saturday or through the week when asked, the dive adventure did not start on Saturday, but would start sometime on Sunday. Such a change in plans required all dive adventurers to pay for an unexpected additional night hotel fees and meal expenses. When asked why the trip was delayed one entire day and the loss of 3 dives, we were given a look of derision and no response at which time Paul would walk away from the conversation or his response was “I’m too busy to address that now”.
Sunday starts and instead of a 0800 departure, we leave at 0930. The first comments out of Paul’s mouth are “you might have questions regarding the trip, the boat, the diving…don’t ask me this is my first time here”. This statement was utterly befuddling since at the trip presentation we were assured they had all the answers about this trip.
We arrive at the Yemaya and attend the boat briefing provided by Arthur the dive guide. Arthur explains to us that since we are a day late, we forfeited 3 dives and will not get in all the dives that we paid for and were promised. Paul subsequently began to argue with Arthur that we paid for 6 days of diving and we should be getting all the dives paid for. Arthur’s response was that if you showed up on time, you would have gotten all of your dives. During the week Paul was approached to determine if we could add night dives or dawn dives to the schedule. One particular time he was eating dinner and asked about additional dives. Paul’s response was “I’m eating right now and do not want to discuss it”. Numerous attempts were made to get the 3 lost dives with no success.
During the dive week, Paul offered tech diving classes to 4 people on the tender to the surprise of the other 6 divers. This caused the remaining 6 divers to wait until all the tech diving water skills were performed before the entire tender could return to the Yemaya for surface intervals and meals. The tender was extremely uncomfortable with all the tech gear lying all over the narrow walk ways.
The return trip to Panama City was a joke. The English-Spanish speaking crew members who got in the van for the trip to Panama City left the van 1 hour into the trip. This left the remaining passengers with no way to communicate with the driver. It wasn’t until someone yelled out “BANOS” did the driver stop an hour later to allow the passengers to relieve themselves.
Upon arrival at the hotel in Panama City all the luggage was removed from the van, even though the hotel where the baggage was removed was not the hotel that nine passengers were staying. When Paul and John got their luggage, they left the nine stranded passengers to fend for themselves. It wasn’t until a Panama City transportation organizer took the time to speak with use to find out why the nine passengers were so bent out of shape. We explained to the Panama City transportation organizer that we paid for and were told that at the end of the trip we would be transported to our respective hotels. The Panama City transportation organizer stated that’s not the arrangements that Paul and John made with him. If we wanted to get to our respective hotels, we would have to pony up taxi fare to our hotels. In all of the “discussions” with the Panama City transportation organizer Paul and John were nowhere to be found to lend assistance to the nine stranded travelers. Finally, due to the continuous harping on the Panama City transportation organizer he relented and had the van driver repack the van and take the nine passengers to their respective hotels in the downtown area.
Granted these things might appear to be nit-picky travel bumps in the road to the more experienced of you reading this report. However, when you’ve paid for services that are not provided it places a pall over the entire trip.
Refunds have been requested for the unexpected additional hotel expenses on Saturday night, plus meals, and the cost of the 3 lost Nitrox dives; I won’t hold my breath. But that’s a good thing because SCUBA divers are not supposed to hold their breath under any circumstances ;-)
Scuba Diving Trips & Shark Diving Trips - Dive Cocos with Coiba Dive Expeditions
This is two-part trip report. The first part describes that absolutely outstanding dive operation offered experienced ADVANCED divers aboard the MV Yemaya. The second part describes the complete incompetence of the trip arrangers who put together the trip to Panama. I would normally use the word “organizers” but I can’t use that word because there wasn’t any organization.
PLEASE understand that the information contained in Part 2 should not be interpreted as a statement that I did not enjoy myself thoroughly in the challenging conditions around Coiba Island; I HAD A BLAST.
PART 1
TRAVEL INFORMATION
The trip began with a 4 hour direct flight on United from Houston to Panama City, Panama airport (PTY). The flight was smooth, easy, and completely uneventful. Once at the Panama City airport, a taxi ride into the downtown area is needed to get to your hotel. The taxi fare is $30 per person one way.
I stayed at the Toscana Inn in downtown Panama City Panama City Hotels Panama | Toscana Inn Hotel | Republic of Panama on Friday night and the extra night on Saturday. I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn on the following Saturday night just to get the experience of a different hotel in the city.
Ciudad de Panama Hotels | Hilton Garden Inn Panama | Ciudad de Panama,
Both hotels are extremely clean, well maintained and operated very well. However, I preferred the Hilton Garden Inn. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Toscana Inn, I just preferred the Hilton.
From downtown Panama City, Panama it took a 4.5 hour van ride South from the city to the small riverside hamlet where divers pick up the tenders to the Yemaya. If the tide is high enough, the Yemaya is waiting for divers at the dock at the riverside hamlet. If the tide is not high enough, the Yemaya tenders are at the dock to transfer divers from the mainland to the Yemaya which is about a 20 minute tender ride. Bring small denominations of US dollars to tip the baggage handlers at the hotels and the baggage handlers who take your dive baggage from the mainland to the tenders or Yemaya. The baggage handlers also ask for tips at the end of the trip when they remove your baggage from the Yemaya to the van for the return trip to Panama City.
MV YEMAYA II
MV Yemaya
Step aboard the MV Yemaya II to enjoy a week’s worth of adventure diving in the Eastern Pacific waters around Coiba Island.
The ship is a spotlessly clean 115 feet vessel that has 8 staterooms and accommodates 16 guests. The ship is captained by the ever popular and extremely able-body seaman Captain Willem. The upper deck is a large open area with plastic chaise loungers for sitting and sunning between dives. The dining tables and chairs are under cover on the upper deck. The upper deck contains very comfortable space to move around. There were 20 divers on the boat and you never felt like you were cramped on the upper deck.
The lower deck included the cabins and the Salon area.
The dive guides are Reto (Rey-Toe) and Arthur. Both dive guides are of Swiss origin and live in Columbia.
The crew in the background that we hardly ever saw performed flawlessly to keep the Yemaya in extremely clean condition. These folks work constantly to keep the ship operating at peek performance and they do a fabulous job. They need to be recognized for the outstanding work they do to keep the ship clean and visitors comfortable.
The chef, not a cook by any expanse of the imagination, was stupendous. Our pallets were entertained by grilled lobster (2 per person), beef tenderloin for lunch, Paella, fresh tuna, mahi mahi, omelets and scrambled eggs, the freshest French bread at each meal, fresh garden salads with homemade dressing. If my memory serves me correctly, we never had sandwiches for lunch; it was always a hot meal. I honestly believe that I gained 10 pounds on this trip even though we were burning major calories with the current we experienced.
DIVING COIBA ISLAND
I would NOT recommend this dive adventure for a newly certified Advanced Open Water diver who has little to no experience in current and maybe 25 dives. This is not your Cozumel drift diving experience. So don’t think that since you dove/dived a couple of drift dives in Cozumel you will be comfortable in Coiba Island currents. THIS IS NOT A DIVE LOCATION FOR OPEN WATER CERTIFIED DIVERS; YOU NEED EXPERIENCE FOR THIS DIVE ADVENTURE.
There were several “experienced” divers on the ship who sat out many dives due to the stiff currents and cold water.
You will need to have experience with operating and deploying a Submersible Marker Buoy (SMB or “Safety Sausage”) at depth in stiff current; each dive required it.
The week we dove/dived around Coiba Island the weather was perfect; calm seas and little rain. When the rains came it only occurred twice, once in the early morning and once in the late evening.
Diving is done off of two tenders/skiffs from the Yemaya. The tenders accommodate 10 divers with tanks stored in the center of the tenders and divers sitting on fiberglass benches on either side of the tanks. There is gear storage directly beneath each diver’s position to store mask, fins, snorkel, gloves, cameras, etc. The tenders do not have camera tables or rinse tanks or water or snacks. The tenders do have O2, First Aid Kits, and radios.
The tender captains use GPS to locate the dive sites.
Entry on every dive is back rolls with negative entries.
I dove/dived Nitrox the entire week.
DIVE SITES
Jaciarita Reef – Manageable current; Checkout dive; 81 degrees at surface 70 degrees at 62 feet; viz 10 feet due to massive amounts of plankton. No photos as the viz was suboptimal for simple point and shoot camera.
Washing Machine – Stiff current; 80 degrees at surface, 72 degrees at 80 feet; viz 15 feet.
Cathedral – Stiff current; 76 degrees at surface, 70 degrees at 76 feet; Yellow Frogfish, Large Manta; viz 10 feet.
Hannibal Bank (2 times) – MAJOR CURRENT; 78 degrees at surface, 68 degrees at 106 feet; dive consisted of hanging on mooring line to 106 feet, released mooring line and kicked into current for 3 minutes steady- at the end of the 3 minute kick the mooring line was directly behind me. Too many jellies to count; stung repeatedly on face and neck. The second dive however, 2 hours later, had little current, viz 50 feet, and a huge school of Jacks.
Twin Peaks – Stiff current; 84 degrees at surface 71 degrees at 84 feet; viz 20 feet; large moray eels, several spotted sting rays. Surface interval-kayaked to island traveled down freshwater stream found deceased 6 foot crocodile.
Prospect Rock – MR. TOAD’S WILD RIDE CURRENT; a commercial diver on our tender estimated the current to be 8 knots; current started out manageable at beginning of dive then we crawled hand over hand on the rocks 15 minutes into the dive; if it weren’t for an old mooring line to catch us in the current the next stop was American Samoa.
Roller Coaster – Stiff current; 86 degrees at surface, 71 degrees at 86 feet; viz 20 feet; Scorpionfish.
Fisherman’s Dream – Stiff current; 81 degrees at surface, 64 degrees at 92 feet; viz 100 feet; large green turtle; white tip sharks, Triggerfish, arrow crab.
La Viuda – Wicked current; 79 degrees at surface, 69 degrees at 81 feet; viz 50 feet; Yellow Pufferfish.
Don Juan – Manageable current; 79 degrees at surface, 71 degrees at 80 feet; viz 50 feet; Moorish Idols, white tip sharks.
Bajo 20 – Stiff current; 76 degrees at surface, 60 degrees at 94 feet; viz 100 feet at depth; site should be renamed “Eel City”; hundreds of moray eels of different colors with significant length and girth; Shore Excursion to Coiba National Park where Tito the 12 foot crocodile resides.
El Faro – Manageable current; 78 degrees at surface, 70 degrees at 50 feet; viz 30 feet do to plankton in water; white tip sharks, moray eels, siting of Whale Shark tail at safety stop.
Wahoo Rock – Mild current; 78 degrees at surface, 70 degrees at 60 feet; viz 50 feet; moray eels, spotted eels, large bait ball of Jacks.
Pequenito Isla Afuerita (Reto's Dive Site) – Mild current; 80 degrees at surface, 77 degrees at 60 feet; Monster sting rays (no Mantas), various moray eels.
Divers will experience variations of current at all of the above dive sites; current strength and direction will change during each dive that will test a diver’s buoyancy and maneuvering skills.
GLOVES are necessary for every dive. If you’re not hanging onto a mooring line for dear life, you’re grabbing rocks and boulders along the bottom to make your way through the current. I wore out a pair of new Henderson 3mm Insta-Dry gloves by the end of the week. On several of the colder dives I wore Aqua-Lung Therma-Flex 5mm gloves; really nice gloves.
As far as thermal protection goes, we were told prior to leaving for the trip that the water temps were cooler than expected and to expect water temperatures in the mid-60s to very low-70s. I have a very low threshold for cold. I packed a brand new O’Neill 7/12mm with integrated hood (7mm on the extremities 12mm on the torso). It took 26lbs to get underwater…YIKES. I usually dive in a 3mm that takes 6lbs to be comfortable in the water. Although the 7/12 kept me toasty warm, I moved through the water like a Mack Truck plowing through the water. The only thing that saved my week was one of my dive buddies packed an extra 5mm that he loaned to me and it fit me like a glove. Although I was cold on most dives with the 5mm, at least I could move in the water with a reasonable amount ease.
Would I go on another trip to Coiba Island? Unlikely. There are too many other destinations I want to see before I return to Coiba. However, I will use my experiences on the Coiba Island trip to seriously consider trips to Cocos and Galapagos.
Would I dive with MV Yemaya to a different destination? ABSOLUTELY! The ship and the crew performed effortlessly and it was FUN.
Was the trip worth the experience? ABSOLUTELY! I thoroughly enjoyed stretching my skill level in the cold water and currents that I experienced at Coiba. I developed a greater confidence after the trip knowing that I can function quite well in stiff currents.
PART 2- TRAVEL ARRANGERS
Take it for what is worth. The information is provided to help you eliminate as much travel stress and anxiety, particularly when traveling outside the U.S.
The Coiba Island adventure was presented by representatives of Land Sea Air Excursions/Oceanic Expeditions, John Holder and Paul Murphy.
Their initial presentation indicated that they were experienced international travel planners and travelers.
The trip information provided to prospective dive adventurers was 6-days of action-packed diving with three to four dives per day all costs and fees included in the price listed on the information sheet including transportation to and from the Yemaya and each diver’s respective hotel.
Upon arrival in Panama City on Friday afternoon, the emails started to fly from Paul that additional fees were required to be paid on Saturday morning and to have cash available.
The “as advertised” 2 hour Motor Coach ride discussed in the travel presentation turned into a 4.5 hour van ride in extremely cramped conditions.
For no explanation provided on Saturday or through the week when asked, the dive adventure did not start on Saturday, but would start sometime on Sunday. Such a change in plans required all dive adventurers to pay for an unexpected additional night hotel fees and meal expenses. When asked why the trip was delayed one entire day and the loss of 3 dives, we were given a look of derision and no response at which time Paul would walk away from the conversation or his response was “I’m too busy to address that now”.
Sunday starts and instead of a 0800 departure, we leave at 0930. The first comments out of Paul’s mouth are “you might have questions regarding the trip, the boat, the diving…don’t ask me this is my first time here”. This statement was utterly befuddling since at the trip presentation we were assured they had all the answers about this trip.
We arrive at the Yemaya and attend the boat briefing provided by Arthur the dive guide. Arthur explains to us that since we are a day late, we forfeited 3 dives and will not get in all the dives that we paid for and were promised. Paul subsequently began to argue with Arthur that we paid for 6 days of diving and we should be getting all the dives paid for. Arthur’s response was that if you showed up on time, you would have gotten all of your dives. During the week Paul was approached to determine if we could add night dives or dawn dives to the schedule. One particular time he was eating dinner and asked about additional dives. Paul’s response was “I’m eating right now and do not want to discuss it”. Numerous attempts were made to get the 3 lost dives with no success.
During the dive week, Paul offered tech diving classes to 4 people on the tender to the surprise of the other 6 divers. This caused the remaining 6 divers to wait until all the tech diving water skills were performed before the entire tender could return to the Yemaya for surface intervals and meals. The tender was extremely uncomfortable with all the tech gear lying all over the narrow walk ways.
The return trip to Panama City was a joke. The English-Spanish speaking crew members who got in the van for the trip to Panama City left the van 1 hour into the trip. This left the remaining passengers with no way to communicate with the driver. It wasn’t until someone yelled out “BANOS” did the driver stop an hour later to allow the passengers to relieve themselves.
Upon arrival at the hotel in Panama City all the luggage was removed from the van, even though the hotel where the baggage was removed was not the hotel that nine passengers were staying. When Paul and John got their luggage, they left the nine stranded passengers to fend for themselves. It wasn’t until a Panama City transportation organizer took the time to speak with use to find out why the nine passengers were so bent out of shape. We explained to the Panama City transportation organizer that we paid for and were told that at the end of the trip we would be transported to our respective hotels. The Panama City transportation organizer stated that’s not the arrangements that Paul and John made with him. If we wanted to get to our respective hotels, we would have to pony up taxi fare to our hotels. In all of the “discussions” with the Panama City transportation organizer Paul and John were nowhere to be found to lend assistance to the nine stranded travelers. Finally, due to the continuous harping on the Panama City transportation organizer he relented and had the van driver repack the van and take the nine passengers to their respective hotels in the downtown area.
Granted these things might appear to be nit-picky travel bumps in the road to the more experienced of you reading this report. However, when you’ve paid for services that are not provided it places a pall over the entire trip.
Refunds have been requested for the unexpected additional hotel expenses on Saturday night, plus meals, and the cost of the 3 lost Nitrox dives; I won’t hold my breath. But that’s a good thing because SCUBA divers are not supposed to hold their breath under any circumstances ;-)
