Boquete Outdoor Adventures

This trip is designed for experienced paddlers because of the isolated location, remote beach landings, strong currents and the possibility of waves and wind. Depending on the skills and abilities of your group, we tend to limit distances per day to 8 to10 miles so that we have enough time and energy to snorkel, hike, fish and explore Isla Coiba.

We run this trip during the dry season (December to April). During this time, the wind and swells are usually light on the Pacific side of Panama. We can run the trip during the rainy season as a custom trip, but it becomes an advanced paddling trip because of the increased swell and wind in addition to heavy rains.

Isla Coiba is the center of one of the world’s largest marine parks and a UN World Heritage Site. Until 2004, Coiba was also home to a penal colony. The park itself, founded in 1991, is made up of 38 different islands and is home to the 2nd largest coral reef in the eastern Pacific. Coiba is the largest island in Central America (50,314 hectares) and the marine park covers 430,821 hectares. The marine life is incredible in the park. There are orcas, dolphins, humpback whales, sea turtles, huge manta rays, tiger sharks, hammerhead sharks and much more! The beaches are nesting grounds for sea turtles, and the island itself is home to at least 36 species of mammals and 150 species of birds. Coiba is also home to several species of monkeys, crocodiles, and has one of the last concentrations of scarlet macaws in Panama and Central America. Around 80% of the island is still pristine rain forest. The presence of the penal colony in the past coupled with the fact that it takes a 2 hour motor boat ride to get to the island, means that the park and Coiba itself are largely untouched
Today, there is a ANAM (Panama’s park service) station at one end of the island and a police station at the former penal colony. Otherwise, the island is uninhabited and remote.