Where to begin?!
The diving: Audra and I dove with Dive Base Coiba on two separate occasions already within the past couple months. We had 6 dives in total: 2 at Coiba and 4 around Pixvae. It's Pacific diving, so the visibility isn't as good as the Caribbean. But that didn't bother us at all due to the variety of wildlife present on each of our dives: Morays, schools of spadefish and surgeon, wahoo, white tip shark, rays, harlequin shrimp, and TONS of others. The underwater terrain was interesting as well: swim throughs, crevasses, and massive flat rocks fallen off of the island (spanish name for "Horse's molar").
The location: When Audra and I travel, we LOVE to learn how the locals live, not be put up in 5 star resorts. This was the PERFECT location for us! The drive is beautiful, and a 4 wheel drive vehicle is necessary. Pixvae is a small fishing village of about 100 houses. When we were there, the electricity was out, although they are working on a plan to get electricity back in the town in the next couple weeks. The hostel we stayed at had solar electricity reserved for indoor lighting only. It was basic, but had beds, hammocks, bathrooms, and food. (What else do you need?!) Almost everything in the town is beachfront, and the bay is surrounded by beautiful mountains. It's very close to great diving spots and small secluded beaches and islands which we stopped off at to eat lunch between dives.
Finally, the people! (The number 1 reason we will be back again!). The staff at the hostel: Silveria and Sujeili were wonderful ladies which cooked great, authentic Panamanian food. They played cards with us and even braided Audra's hair :) The boat drivers: Capitan Jorge, and Coquito, two locals from the community that were contracted out by DBC. Both very professional. The staff at DBC: Luz took care of much of the logistics of the stay, including packing a cooler for our two tank dives. Imagine pulling up to a beach after a great dive, and find all the fixings for GREAT chicken fajitas, plus fruits, cookies, coconut, and beverages. After eating, sit and talk with the dive master or snorkel for a while. The dive master: Kevan. What an AWESOME guy! He's been diving here for 20+ years, longer than almost anyone (he even has named several dive sites). 90% of his dives are scientific, with BBC, Smithsonian, or National Geographic. He can fill you in on the history of Coiba, as well as the interesting marine biology in and
around Coiba national park. Audra and I have almost 100 dives between us and he is BY FAR our favorite dive master. Truly an unforgettable experience!
This was about one and a half months ago and I'm just now getting around to editing all the video I took. We bought a GoPro in preparation for this trip and this is my first time not only taking video, but editing as well. This video covers 3 of the dives around Pixvae. Enjoy!