The Scuba diving community’s obsession with Belize has created crowded dive sites, driven up cost, and put a lot of pressure on the precious natural resources. A new gem has emerged in Central America for scuba divers. Panama has become the destination for scuba divers looking for relatively unexplored dive sites, warm tropical waters, and low travel costs.

Panama offers scuba diving opportunities in both the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. It is even possible to book a trip through scuba shops in Panama City to dive both oceans the same day as well as an eerie low visibility dive in the Panama Canal the next day. In one of the indigenous languages, the name Panama itself means “abundance of fish.” The waters around Panama definitely live up to the name.

The clear Caribbean waters offer beautiful corals and ample tropical fish, but the best scuba diving in Panama may very well be the unexplored Pacific waters off the coast of Santa Catalina. Offering excellent local dives just a 15 minute boat ride from Santa Catalina Beach, the variety of fish and the shear numbers and size of the fish is amazing. It is not unusual on a single dive to see dozens of eels, sea turtles, large schools of jacks, barracuda, snapper and reef and nurse sharks.

What you will not see is other dive parties or dive related damage to the reefs. There is currently only one land based dive operator out of Santa Catalina. It is Scuba Coiba, owned by Austrian Herbie Sunk. The Scuba Coiba operation is very safety conscious. They keep their rental gear in good shape and are very diligent in protecting their natural resources.

Further out in the Gulf of Chiriqui, is Isla Coiba. A little over an hour boat ride out of Santa Catalina, Isla Coiba offers incredible variety including a large number of pelagics. Isla Coiba has been favorably compared to Galapagos and Cocos islands for its diversity of sea life as well as ecological diversity on land.

Isla Coiba and the waters and islands around it create the Isla Coiba National Park. Scuba diving and accessing the islands require a permit from the rangers. This is highly enforced and should help protect the waters and the natural resources they harbor in pristine condition.

Scuba Coiba offers day trips from Santa Catalina to Isla Coiba, but a worthwhile experience is their 2 to 3 day trips which combine diving with ecotours of the islands. To protect the island, overnight accommodations are only available at the ranger station.

The Pacific waters around Santa Catalina are warm year round, although currents around the deeper waters of Isla Coiba can create cooler thermal layers. Don’t expect the 100+ feet of visibility of the Caribbean, but 50+ is common and ample to see the awesome sites.

Santa Catalina is definitely off the beaten path, even for Panama. But its remoteness is what has kept it protected from the throngs of casual weekend warriors. Santa Catalina is located on the Pacific coast, a 5 to 6 hour drive from either Panama City or David. The road was recently paved all the way into town making driving there an easier proposition. Airport transfers can be arranged with some of the local hotels. For the truly budget minded, the public bus system is also an option.