Santa Catalina was an unkown Panamanian town on the pacific ocean until the surfers and divers arrived. They discovered the great surf breaks and rich under water life available there and now it’s one of Panama’s highlights. 

We arrived on the last bus (by chance) in the late afternoon and it was raining like crazy. Of course our  our backpacks were safely secured on top of the bus, so we arrived with a lot of wet clothes.

We met another tourist on the bus and followed him to his hostel. It was a surfer hostel managed by Steven, an avid surfer from Venezuela, who moved to work at the hostel in Santa Catalina just for the waves. The hostel is minimalistic but still modern and even has a pool for cooling off, which we didn’t really find sooo important as we stood in the rain.

But they assured us that in the morning we’ll have a better impression on the town. And indeed, the next morning the sun was shining and our clothes were dry. 

We hit the town, which like many of these little towns consists of 2 intersections, to look for dive shops with some friends, but since it was low season, only one shop was open and the next trip available was the next day, so we headed to the beach.

Since I neither surf nor dive, I had plenty of time to swim in the ocean. It was my first time in the pacific and a great experience. For an ocean, the water was really warm in Santa Catalina and there were a lot of waves to ride and crash into. You could spend hours in the water just having fun with the waves.

As for the diving, there were trips organized to go dive near coiba island, which was actually a “natural” prison before as the waters around it are shark infested. Our friends, one of which is quite an experienced diver, came back from the dive very happy having seen lots of interesting underwater life such as mantas, sharks, sea turtles, dolphins and even whales from the boat.

Foodwise we cooked if we were able to catch the fruit and vegetable or seafood trucks that pass through town. Otherwise I tried a very simple pizza restaurant, which is nothing more than two large tables under a straw roof, with a TV (in english!!) and attached kitchen. Any pizzas costs 9$ and you can ask for whatever toppings you want. The owners were sitting down with their family and neighbors watching TV when we arrived and so we joined them. It was a really special atmosphere and they really put love in to their pizzas. Standing in front of the oven the whole time and taking the pizza out to add different ingredients at different times of the cooking process. Afterwards we had a chat with the owner, who used to live in Canada but couldn’t take the cold and so moved back to Panama.

Although there wasn’t much to do for me in Santa Catalina but there was such a nice vibe in the town, hostel and with the other travelers, that we decided to stay an extra day. We organized a last supper for everyone at the hostel and had a great home cooked candle light dinner by the pool. It was another really nice memory that I will definitely not forget so fast. As usual, after beach time comes more hiking. Originally I had planned to go to Santa Fe, but I was having a lot of fun with my new travel buddies, so I tagged along with them to the next town.

Santa Catalina’s main intersection.

The waves in Santa Catalina are great for both beginners and professionals.

The view from the beach…

… and the view from the ocean.

Trying out another mirror shot. Almost!

Watching TV at the pizza restaurant with family and neighbours.