Blue Zone Surf and Dive Hostel
Santa Catalina, Veraguas Province, Panama

Blue Zone surf and dive hostel is located in Santa Catalina, Veraguas Province, Panama.  We are situated on the ocean an easy walk to the center of town.  Directly in front of our property lies the picturesque island of Santa Catalina.  The property has many coconut and mango trees as well as other exotic hardwood trees.

Our nicely decorated hostel offers five rooms and three shared bathrooms, common kitchen and dining area with refrigerator plus laundry facilities.

Surfing
Santa Catalina is the best surfing spot in Panama, with one of the most consistent breaks in Central or South America. There’s something to ride here every month of the year.

The best time for really big waves is February to August, when wave faces get as high as 6–9 meters. At other times the average is 2–3 meters. There are several other breaks, some within walking distance, some requiring a boat ride to reach, that have breaks that can get even bigger.  Most of the surfing is for advanced surfers but there are some intermediate areas nearby.

Scuba Diving
Like the surfing, Scuba diving in Santa Catalina is world class. Local diving is excellent and in just over an hour, you can be diving in the Isla Coiba National Marine Park. Isla Coiba is often referred to as a cross between the Galapagos and Cocos Islands.

The word "panama" is an indigenous word meaning an abundance of fish. Diving in both of these areas illustrates the truth in Panama's name. Large schools of tuna, wahoo, and other game fish can be seen as well as numerous pelagics, such as white tip reef sharks. Seeing eagle rays, barracudas, and turtles are very common.

June to September, sightings of humpback whales are possible. Depending on the season, possibilities also include pilot whales, orcas and dolphins. Shark possibilities include whale shark, tiger, bull, white tip reef sharks and hammerheads.  Also regularly seen here are huge numbers of snappers, jacks, tunas, butterfly fish, angelfish, puffer fish and free swimming moray eels.

There are two land based scuba operators in Santa Catalina.  One is Scuba Coiba . They use a 25 foot fiberglass boat set up to accommodate 6 divers comfortably and have well maintained rental equipment. Their staff is multilingual, including English, Spanish and German.
Scuba Coiba can take dive parties on two tank day trips to many excellent local spots or to Isla Coiba National Marine Park for day trips or overnighters

The other scuba operator is Coiba Dive Center.  It is owned by Canadian Glenn Massingham.  While having recently opened Coiba Dive Center, Glenn has extensive experience diving the areas around Coiba and Santa Catalina.

 

Some of this information was adapted from "Moon Handbooks: Panama," by William Friar (Avalon Travel Pub.).