Last day snorkelling and kayaking at Isla Coiba

We woke up to yet another amazing morning. Malene having spent at least one hour staying awake listening to "mysterious noises" outside the tent after Mikkel had mentioned that he heard "something" outside the tent. It turned out the noises were not from the crocodile but from something whose footprints looked like it belonged to a small opossum.

Today the plan was to pack camp - which we did before breakfast, have the boat come and load all our stuff, head to the ranger camp, leave the kayaks and then snorkel at two different beaches. We paddled slowly back to the ranger station, left the kayaks, boarded the boat and 10 minutes later we were at a small island where we snorkelled around the reef and the entire island for about an hour. The other guys who where on our trip headed the opposite direction of us saw a few turtles and rays - we had the "aquarium" experience once again being surrounded by thousands and thousands of fish at one end of the reef. This place is simply so amazing.  Being Sunday the beach and the island got a bit busy with more boats and people arriving. We left for the last beach, heading to the far eastern area of Isla Coiba National Park, and had a beach all to ourselves for the last snorkelling this time and the last lunch. While Adam set up food we snorkelled the reef for 45 minutes - once again amazing.

We had lunch and headed back to Santa Catalina arriving there at 3 PM, unloaded the boat, said bye to the other guys, headed for our hostel and had a much needed shower to get rid of the dirt and salt water. Having decided to leave Santa Catalina a day early we had to pack everything for an early departure. Pizza and tiramisu for dinner at restaurant next door. Nice to eat at a table and think about the last four days of amazing experiences in Santa Catalina and Isla Coiba. We are now officially snorkelled-out. We enjoyed every second of it though. Would like to come back here one day.

Last morning on our beach

Washed up garbage - unfortunately a big problem everywhere

Plenty of time to do some photos with shells

Heading back to the ranger station - not in a hurry

Ready for one more underwater swim

Last island photo. We already miss you

Kayak and snorkelling at Isla Coiba

Not having the set up the outer cover on the tent meant we woke up as soon as daylight came. Then we could just hang out on the beach in the cool morning air looking at the waves and waiting for Adam to have breakfast ready for us. Getting a cup of coffee and some good breakfast - on the beach of course and then we got the kayaks ready for our trip to another island and a full day on- and in the water.

We had another day of amazing snorkelling but this morning also with the added pleasure of going slowly in the kayaks along the coast and listening to the howler monkeys announcing to their friends in the forest that they had spotted us.

Returning to "our" beach in the afternoon we decided to do one more round at the reef of the coast and we saw 6 turtles in different sizes ranging from small to giant. Back to the beach, "shower", dinner, relax. This combination of kayak, wild camping and snorkelling is amazing.

Footsteps from the local crocodile - no nigh swimming for us

Day break on the beach

Snorkeling break on the beach

Yes, it is good

Late afternoon after 3 hours in the water and plenty of fish, turtles and sharks sighted

Going to Isla Coiba for kayaking

We left our big back packs at the hostel this morning only having what we needed for the next couple of days in a couple of dry bags. Adam - the guy we spoke to the other day - turned out to be the guy going with us. He told us we were waiting for three other guys to join us so we had breakfast at the restaurant next door once we had gotten the right size snorkelling equipment.

The other guys arrived and had their stuff loaded on the boat and we headed for Isla Coiba and the ranger station - exactly the same way as yesterday. 1½ hours later and we were on the beach where we were going to camp, unloading everything from our boat and getting back in the boat to return to the ranger station and pick up the kayaks.

At the ranger station we got the kayaks ready and Adam looking a bit concerned. The "chief" at the ranger station wouldn't allow us to camp at the usual site so while Adam was busy doing phone calls we snorkelled around the tiny island of the coast of the ranger station and saw more beautiful underwater action including a small turtle. This area is so amazing.

We came back to the beach and waited a bit more and suddenly matters were fixed - we could now stay on the beach as planned a bit away from the ranger station. We set off in the kayaks and did a 30 minute trip to our beach, pulled our kayaks to the high tide mark on the beach, Adam introduced us to the area and then we set up tents and swam to a small reef just off the coast and saw more - yes, fish, turtles and a single shark. Back to the beach, wash the salt water off in the stream coming from the jungle while admiring the impressive crocodile footprints in the sand. Yes, there was at least one big reptile living "somewhere in there" so positively no night swimming in the ocean.

Adam cooked dinner for us, and we sat on the beach enjoying the sunset and the stars coming out before heading to the tent to sleep. A bit tired after a long day of kayaking, snorkelling and being outdoors. But what a day.

Heading for Isla Coiba - again

Kayak-testing

Back on the water

The view from the office this morning

Beach ahead

Campsite done

Enjoying the evening on the beach