Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Coiba Island - Panama


, originally uploaded by ladyhedda.

We hired a boat for the day and motored out to Isla Coiba, about 1 1/2 hours from Santa Catalina. It's a totally different world out there compared to the mainland. Santa Catalina has some river runoff into the sea so the water has a green hue to it. Out at Coiba it is absolutely crystal clear. We free dove some reefs and had about 50-60 feet of visibility. White tip sharks, Barracuda's, Turtles, various coral formations and loads of fish. Granita del Oro is a tiny islet, one of many that surround Coiba. We had it completely to ourselves and didn't see another boat all day. Until recently, Coiba housed over 1,000 prisoners in various camps scattered around the island. This helped to preserve the island and reefs since no one really wanted to get too close to the prison. Today it is a protected national park and UNESCO world heritage site.

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