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Coiba National Marine Park

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Coiba National Marine Park consists of the island of Coiba (the largest island in Central America) and 37 surrounding islands and islets, all of which are about 30 miles off the Panamanian coast in the Gulf of Chiriquí. From 1919 to 2004 this island was a penal colony and quartered political prisoners and some of the most dangerous criminals in Panama. Known as Panama’s Devil’s Island, the government closed the penal colony in 2004, and turned it into the largest marine park in Central America. UNESCO named Coiba National Marine Park a World Heritage Site in 2005 identifying more than 800 marine species in the waters surrounding the park.

Coiba is known for its superior diving and was recently said to have the best diving "to be found along the Pacific Coast from Columbia to Mexico".

Getting there

Though its remote nature has helped to preserve the flora and fauna, it also served to deter visitors. It is about an hour long boat ride from the coastal town of Santa Catalina or two hours from the fishing village of Boca Chica, but most travelers rely on tour operators to reach the island. This journey’s inconvenience is negligible, however, compared to the opportunities for scuba, snorkeling and sport fishing Coiba offers.

See

Scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute have proclaimed Coiba an unparalleled destination for discovering new species. Rachel Collin, a Smithsonian project coordinator said, "It's hard to imagine, while snorkeling around a tropical island that's so close to the United States, that half the animals you see are unknown to science.” Its unique location protects it from the damaging winds and other effects of El Niño, allowing it to sustain the uninterrupted evolution of new marine species including whale and tiger sharks, sperm whales, sea turtles, angel rays and giant schools of fish. It is also the last refuge for a number of threatened terrestrial animals such as the crested eagle and several sub-species of agouti, possum and howler monkey (including a Coiba Island Howler Monkey). The park is gaining a reputation for being what the Moon travel book calls a “Garden of Eden”; touting the second largest coral reef (Bahia Damas Reef) in the Pacific.

Sleep

The only overnight facility available in the Coiba National Marine Park is at the ANAM ranger station on Isla Coiba . The station has several modest 2 room cabins with air conditioning. There are resorts and hotels close enough to make Coiba a day trip, like Gone Fishing and Seagullcove , located near the fishing village of Boca Chica (considered to be the go-to place for fishing in the Gulf of Chiriqui) that offer comfortable bed and breakfast experiences in moderate price ranges. New luxury resorts are planned for locations in the Gulf of Chiriqui in the next few years, like the Resort at Isla Palenque and Playa Grande .

There are no restaurants at Coiba National Marine Park. There are a few restaurants in Boca Chica : Wahoo Willy's, located in the town's small port area, and at the local Inns, Gone Fishing and Seagullcove .

Contact & location

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The photos displayed on this page are the property of one of the following authors:

LASZLO ILYES

Some photos courtesy of: . The photos provided by Flickr are under the copyright of their owners.

This travel guide also includes text from Wikitravel articles, all available at WikitravelView full credits

Stefan Ertmann, Rafcha, Abdeely, Flimoncelli and Inas

This travel guide also includes text from Wikipedia articles, all available at WikipediaView full credits

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