Album.I had heard about Parque Nacional Isla de Coiba the largest island consisting of 50,314 hectares or 124,320 acres of mostly virgin tropical rainforest. Located approximately 30 miles off the Panamanian cost, Isla de Coiba is remote and relatively undeveloped with over 80% of its natural habitat intact. It is hilly at its center with a number of rivers draining into the ocean. The largest of the rivers is Rio Negro or Black River. The jungles of Isla de Coiba are home to howler monkeys, scarlet macaws, and crested eagles.
After the fall of the dictatorship, Coiba resumed its role as a criminal prison camp rather than political prison. In its final days, prisoners were the run of the mill thieves, murders and rapists serving their debt to society by farming and ranching the island to provide for their own existence.
Isla de Coiba is not swarming with tourists making it a fantastic getaway. If you do mind a rustic getaway in the of middle nowhere this is place for you! I urge to visit Parque Nacional Isla de Coiba in Panama. Even more, when taking short trips to some of the other islands I got the feeling as though it we were on our own private island.
For bird watchers, Isla de Coiba offers 97 of the 147 species of birds found in Parque Nacional de Isla Coiba. It is a refuge for Crested Eagles and Scarlet Macaws, birds who have virtually disappeared from the rest of the Republic of Panama. The island also offers 20 endemic birds’ species including the Coiba Spinetail.
We had been planning a trip to Isla de Coiba and finally we would be able to discover this beautiful island just six hours south of Boquete. One of the organizers from our Sunday trekks planned the Parque Nacional Isla de Coiba trip.
I will backtrack a bit now and then continue below on our Isla de Coiba trip. About two weeks ago, I fractured my Fibia it is the thin narrow long bone connected from the ankle to the knee. The Sunday, when this happened we went on a lovely walk in Finca Lerida beautiful hiking trails, a luscious area located in the highlands of Boquete. We went with a friend and his family visiting from France. Not wearing the right shoes may have attributed to the accident but I thought my Keens (very good shoes but do not support the ankles) would do fine since they got me through the other hikes that were much more difficult. Anyway, I was not concentrating on the path but instead was listening intently to the TMI
my walking partner was describing about her sad life and BINGO I slipped into a dirt crevice and not being to stop the fall slide twisting my ankle. I heard two pops and knew what had happened. I hobbled back to the main road as best I could which seemed to take forever and yes very painful but I could still walk luckily. We decided to have lunch because when a person is hungry the doctor can wait. After having a very delightful lunch in Finca Lerida’s restaurant we headed back to Boquete and to the Clinca Integral de la Salud where there they decided an x-ray was necessary and a specialist.
I will backtrack a bit now and then continue below on our Isla de Coiba trip. About two weeks ago, I fractured my Fibia it is the thin narrow long bone connected from the ankle to the knee. The Sunday, when this happened we went on a lovely walk in Finca Lerida beautiful hiking trails, a luscious area located in the highlands of Boquete. We went with a friend and his family visiting from France. Not wearing the right shoes may have attributed to the accident but I thought my Keens (very good shoes but do not support the ankles) would do fine since they got me through the other hikes that were much more difficult. Anyway, I was not concentrating on the path but instead was listening intently to the TMI
my walking partner was describing about her sad life and BINGO I slipped into a dirt crevice and not being to stop the fall slide twisting my ankle. I heard two pops and knew what had happened. I hobbled back to the main road as best I could which seemed to take forever and yes very painful but I could still walk luckily. We decided to have lunch because when a person is hungry the doctor can wait. After having a very delightful lunch in Finca Lerida’s restaurant we headed back to Boquete and to the Clinca Integral de la Salud where there they decided an x-ray was necessary and a specialist. The cast comes off in about two weeks and I will the happiest person alive on that day…hippie! Next week I can walk adding some pressure onto the healing ankle. Yeah!
Now back to our trip! Five of us from Boquete who would be taking the trip to Isla de Coiba decided to leave around nine Friday morning allowing us to arrive in Santiago, Veraguas around 12:30pm so we could have a relaxing day prior to the early Saturday morning start and have a good night rest. We stayed at the Rancho Hacienda a pleasant hotel with a swimming pool, decent food, and the price was just right with the pencionado discount through a friend with whom we shared a room.
Now back to our trip! Five of us from Boquete who would be taking the trip to Isla de Coiba decided to leave around nine Friday morning allowing us to arrive in Santiago, Veraguas around 12:30pm so we could have a relaxing day prior to the early Saturday morning start and have a good night rest. We stayed at the Rancho Hacienda a pleasant hotel with a swimming pool, decent food, and the price was just right with the pencionado discount through a friend with whom we shared a room.
The following day began with a 3:00am wake up call. YIKES! I know excessively early for you right! As it turned out, we could have stayed in bed for another hour fore the bus arrived an hour later. The first stop was Santiago’s icehouse to load up the ice chest surprisingly enough the place was busy even at 5:00am. Our second stop to board the boat in Puerto Muntis in the Gulf of Montijo entered the small town of Puerto Muntis it reminded me of coastal towns in Europe with narrow windy roads, houses close to the walk and paint washed casitas where their colors were fading. Since having to walk around on crutches, it was difficult getting around at the end of our trip.
That morning we enjoyed a typical Panamanian breakfast consisting of beef in a flavorful red sauce, three Panamanian tortillas, and coffee. The ride to the island was breath taking with the ocean breeze salting my lips, the salty ocean breeze flowing through my hair, and the pounding of the boat when hitting the waves. I found it all to be exhilarating and intoxicating then three hours later, we landed on Isla de Coiba National Park seeing along the way shark.
Professor Alberto Diaz’fee was fifty dollars each for the day and half trip to the Parque Nacional Isla de Coiba, seven dollar permit fee for each of us, and fifty more each to ANAM (Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente). This covered a full schedule, including two breakfasts, two lunches, one dinner, lodging, trips to nearby islands such as Rancheria, Granito de Oro, among others, snorkeling (bring your own gear), short walking hikes, and a visit to the Isla de Coiba’s prison more on this later. Our crew on this trip was our guide Professor Alberto Diaz, the captain, and Gladys the cook.
After landing on Isla de Coiba and unloading the boat, we got back on our first stop being Panama’s version of Devil’s Island. From 1919 to 2004, the penal colony on Isla de Coiba was home to the country’s most dangerous criminals as well as home to many who found themselves on the wrong side of the political struggle. At its peak, the Coiba Island Prison housed 3000 inmates in about 30 camps spread around the islands.
That morning we enjoyed a typical Panamanian breakfast consisting of beef in a flavorful red sauce, three Panamanian tortillas, and coffee. The ride to the island was breath taking with the ocean breeze salting my lips, the salty ocean breeze flowing through my hair, and the pounding of the boat when hitting the waves. I found it all to be exhilarating and intoxicating then three hours later, we landed on Isla de Coiba National Park seeing along the way shark.
Professor Alberto Diaz’fee was fifty dollars each for the day and half trip to the Parque Nacional Isla de Coiba, seven dollar permit fee for each of us, and fifty more each to ANAM (Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente). This covered a full schedule, including two breakfasts, two lunches, one dinner, lodging, trips to nearby islands such as Rancheria, Granito de Oro, among others, snorkeling (bring your own gear), short walking hikes, and a visit to the Isla de Coiba’s prison more on this later. Our crew on this trip was our guide Professor Alberto Diaz, the captain, and Gladys the cook.
After landing on Isla de Coiba and unloading the boat, we got back on our first stop being Panama’s version of Devil’s Island. From 1919 to 2004, the penal colony on Isla de Coiba was home to the country’s most dangerous criminals as well as home to many who found themselves on the wrong side of the political struggle. At its peak, the Coiba Island Prison housed 3000 inmates in about 30 camps spread around the islands.
“Los Desaparecidos” was the name given to the hundreds or even thousands who disappeared in Panama under dictators Omar Torrijos and Manuel Noriega, never to be seen again. Some were tortured in this prison a very sad situation for many family members. It is believed that many of these unfortunate individuals either ended up in unmarked graves near the Coiba’s penal colony or to have been dismembered and fed to the abundant shark population in its surrounding waters.
After the fall of the dictatorship, Coiba resumed its role as a criminal prison camp rather than political prison. In its final days, prisoners were the run of the mill thieves, murders and rapists serving their debt to society by farming and ranching the island to provide for their own existence.The prison is now closed. The prisoners have relocated to other facilities and anything of value removed from the site. Jungle and the marine air are slowly reclaiming the remaining structure. Its crumbling buildings and simply marked graves serve as the only memorial to Coiba’s dark history.
The fear of the prison and its inhabitants inadvertently resulted in preservation of the largest untouched rain forests in the Americas. Because of the deterrent of the penal colony, about 80% of the islands forest remains virgin and unmolested. A true positive aspect in one of man’s most horrible moments. Of course, with the prison gone and the supervising staff woefully under funded, Coiba’s next challenge is fending off poachers preying on the abundant wildlife of the park.
A sad situation also arising in this aftermath is the once domestic animals such as; cattle, buffalo, horses etc, who today roam the island in search of food eating whatever they can, many undernourished end up dying of starvation. The government of Panama does not quite get it! As of today, they still have not figured out and have not come to a logical decision as what to do with the animals whether to sell or kill these unfortunate creatures. And so the animals are left to forge on their own.
Isla de Coiba is not swarming with tourists making it a fantastic getaway. If you do mind a rustic getaway in the of middle nowhere this is place for you! I urge to visit Parque Nacional Isla de Coiba in Panama. Even more, when taking short trips to some of the other islands I got the feeling as though it we were on our own private island. The second stop on the island a small islet off the northeastern coast of Isla Coiba named Granito de Oro has emerged as one of the most popular stops for visitors interested in snorkeling and considered one of the pristine beaches in the world. Granito de Oro offers the casual snorkeler a diversity and volume of marine life that many avid scuba divers spend their lives trying to see. It is the aquarium of Coiba, offering easy access to eels, turtles, and large schools of fish. The waters surrounding Granito de Oro many have called one of the top 10 diving destinations in the world.
Since I was unable to snorkel, some described the fish as beautiful with an array of rainbow of colors, some even saw shark and even spotted shark. Nonetheless, my enjoyment was observing the natural beauty of Granito de Oro with its gold colored sand, the beautiful clear turquoise water, the clean air, and taking photos of my friends exploring this island, snorkeling, exploring coves, enjoying the glory on this tranquil island, smiling happily and at peace with nature.
If you plan an overnight visit to Parque Nacional Isle de Coiba take a small traveling pillow (optional) , bug juice, sunscreen, soap, drinking water, and towel. We were advised to bring sheets but sheets were on the beds and do not take many clothes. The cabins are rustic with four beds in each room, shower, sink, toilet, and air conditioner. There is no hot water but who needs hot water especially with the weather being so warm.
One needs to have a fishing license to fish in this area, if you fish without a license be ready to pay a heavy fine. When snorkeling or scuba diving visitors taking of shellfish or other ocean creatures is not permitted, Parque Nacional de Isle Coiba is a protected ecological park.
Our guide Professor Diaz speaks only Spanish but I hear there is guide who does this trip in English and who also has a larger boat accommodating twenty people. I do have his name but must do more research and call him. If you are interested in having, his name and rate, make a comment on my blog or email me.
This trip was a definite adventure and one I will not forget soon. Being in a cast while boarding and exiting the boat was quite a challenge for all. Everyone wondered how I would getting in and out of the boat. It was so funny sometimes but exhausting sometimes such as walking with crutches in wet sand. My dear friend Remi decided to give me a piggyback ride to and from the boat, while Edward (Lane) and the professor made a chair bracing their arms while I sat on their arms feeling like Cleopatra but an anxious one. I am very happy to have gone on this voyage, casting away catching the trade winds….to explore, dream and discover.
I would like to take this time to thank everyone for their help, support, and humor on this trip. Nonetheless, I need to apologize for my bitchiness at times especially at the end of the trip but hey, I will let you in on a little secret - the woman loses her patience every once in while. Ha, Ha! Thanks again to all.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.~ Mark Twain
If you plan an overnight visit to Parque Nacional Isle de Coiba take a small traveling pillow (optional) , bug juice, sunscreen, soap, drinking water, and towel. We were advised to bring sheets but sheets were on the beds and do not take many clothes. The cabins are rustic with four beds in each room, shower, sink, toilet, and air conditioner. There is no hot water but who needs hot water especially with the weather being so warm.
One needs to have a fishing license to fish in this area, if you fish without a license be ready to pay a heavy fine. When snorkeling or scuba diving visitors taking of shellfish or other ocean creatures is not permitted, Parque Nacional de Isle Coiba is a protected ecological park.
Our guide Professor Diaz speaks only Spanish but I hear there is guide who does this trip in English and who also has a larger boat accommodating twenty people. I do have his name but must do more research and call him. If you are interested in having, his name and rate, make a comment on my blog or email me.
This trip was a definite adventure and one I will not forget soon. Being in a cast while boarding and exiting the boat was quite a challenge for all. Everyone wondered how I would getting in and out of the boat. It was so funny sometimes but exhausting sometimes such as walking with crutches in wet sand. My dear friend Remi decided to give me a piggyback ride to and from the boat, while Edward (Lane) and the professor made a chair bracing their arms while I sat on their arms feeling like Cleopatra but an anxious one. I am very happy to have gone on this voyage, casting away catching the trade winds….to explore, dream and discover.
I would like to take this time to thank everyone for their help, support, and humor on this trip. Nonetheless, I need to apologize for my bitchiness at times especially at the end of the trip but hey, I will let you in on a little secret - the woman loses her patience every once in while. Ha, Ha! Thanks again to all.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.~ Mark Twain
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