Panamainfo’s Blog

Two weeks ago I took a diving trip to Pedasi. It was my first time diving in Pedasi and I had heard that diving in the Pacific was different from the Atlantic in that there are a lot more fish, but nothing could have prepared me for the variety or abundance of fish that I saw underneath the water.

We only went down to about 40 feet and there were so many different kinds of fish that I quickly lost count. There were giant silver mackerels and some in our group saw monster groupers up to three feet long! One person even spotted a mantaray. At one point during our second dive of the day I suddenly found myself surrounded in a circling school of hundreds of silver fish. I was so swept away that I almost lost my diving buddy, until I looked up and saw them trying to sneak into my spot without scaring the circling fish away. We spotted dozens of rock fish hiding in the corals and in the sand. There were little patches of coral with their own little micro-garden with unique small orange and pink fish, dozens of giant parrot fish and even the occasional blowfish putting along. It is said that Panama means “abundance of fish.” We dove around the area of Isla Iguana, and rested on the gorgeous island’s beach between dives.

I highly recommend this trip to diving enthusiasts. You can drive to Pedasi, just make sure you have good directions as it is easy to get lost in the towns in between, such as Chitre, where the roads can be a little bit confusing. The people there are very helpful though and will help you find the main road. Once you get to Pedasi, there are several small hotels and restaurants to eat at- the pizza at Tiestos is pretty good, get the medium instead of the large which is a little doughy, unless you like that. You can rent equipment from Pedasi Diving and Fishing and they will take care of everything from the transportation to the beach, to the boat to Isla Iguana, and even provide lunch, all for a package deal of under $90, which includes two tanks.

Jennifer
Happy Diving!

See if you can spot the Rockfish.