Welcome to Panama Dive Center

At Panama Dive Center we strive to take experienced divers to an unforgettable journey through the fabulous underwater world of Coiba National Park, Panama’s premier scuba diving location. Whether you’ve been diving for years or are one of the many curious adventurers looking for their first introduction to scuba, you’ve come to the right place!

We are the first 5-Star PADI Dive Resort in Santa Catalina and we pride ourselves on providing the best Isla Coiba diving trips possible. We run daily dive trips to Coiba National Park for certified divers, as well as offering a wide range of PADI courses from entry to professional level.

Panama Dive Center is rated the No. 1 thing to do in Santa Catalina on TripAdvisor, and while constantly aspiring to provide our divers with life-changing experiences, we also make a point of always keeping your safety in mind, which is why our trips are all led by PADI-certified instructors.

Join us for the ultimate diving experience in Coiba

Diving in Coiba National Park

If you are a certified diver, complete your Panama trip with a day or two of scuba diving in Coiba National Park – a spectacular underwater adventure. Let the Pacific Ocean surprise you!

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PADI Courses

Experience Panama scuba diving while taking one of our PADI courses! Whether it is the PADI Open Water, Advanced, Nitrox, Rescue, Dive Master or other specialities, you can do them all here!

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Sidemount

From the back to the sides. Try a completely new way to scuba dive in Coiba National Park!

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Discover Scuba Diving

First time diving? Discover scuba diving in Panama and have an unforgettable experience!

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Freedive Courses

Tired of all the gear? Ready for a new challenge? Become one with the ocean with one breath!

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What divers say about us

Professional, friendly and fun

Me and my boyfriend did the diving at Coiba tour and had a fantastic time. We hadn’t been diving in a while so we got a quick refresh before we went off.

Everyone at the Dive center is super super friendly and they all want to give you the best experience possible. Very professional team, we felt incredibly safe with our dive instructor Kat.

We had read a lot about the strong currents around coiba but Kat knew exactly where to go to avoid them and we had 2 fantastic dives.

Highly recommended!

Iris v - September, 2019TripAdvisor

Dive trip

The Panama dive center is a super awesome spot, the raddest employees and everyone is super professional and supportive. I did my intro to free diving course with Sabina and was super satisfied with everything about the course that she put on. She’s a super awesome human and that translates to her instructing. I couldn’t of asked for anything more and to learn the freediving skill set with such a knowledgeable teacher was a dream come true. Coiba island and the waters around that you go diving in are also something out of a postcard 🙂 you won’t be disappointed with the setting of Santa Catalina and the team that works at this dive center!! 🙂

JamesZidell- September, 2019TripAdvisor

Superb Diving

I visited Santa Catalina with Intrepid group and camilo arranged the diving with me online and he was so accommodating changing the dates when the group itinerary changed. Camilo and his team are super professional and they love taking divers to discover the gems of Coiba National Park, the day trip involves water and a great lunch on a lovely beach in the National Park. We got to see some whales and dolphins on the journey. Diving in Coiba is amazing with schools of barrucadas, jacks, snappers, loads of white tip reef sharks, giant sting rays frog fish and much more. If you are lucky in August you may see a whale shark too. I absolutely recommend Panama dive centre, and I can’t wait to go back again!

181julietc - August, 2019TripAdvisor

Very Professional and Organized

Everyone from the moment I arrived at Panama Dive Center was professional, friendly, and really knowledgeable. I was referred to the center by Santa Catalina Yoga & Surf Retreats (also highly recommend!) and was not disappointed. The price for diving was moderate ($140 for 2 tanks; $20 more for a 3rd tank) and that included all of your equipment rental including dive computer, full wet suit, fins, mask, and BCD. Our dive master, Kim, was very knowledgeable and obviously experienced. I also rented a GoPro for $15 for the day and was emailed a Google link to the photos that same afternoon!

We were able to see some baby humpback whales while going to our first site, which was a fun treat, and saw white tip reef sharks, sea turtles, eels, rays, and of course lots of schools of beautiful fish.

I appreciated the entire process, from signing up to diving. They provide lunch, water, and some fruit snacks between dives with a couple of breaks, which was a nice way to break up the day. Of course, the thing you want most in a dive company is good equipment and a dive master who knows what he or she is doing, and Panama Dive Center had all of this. All in all, would recommend!

Rachel C - August, 2019TripAdvisor

First Dive Whale Sharks!

Yes! I signed up to do the open water dive course for four days. Two days theory and two days skills and diving. Gabi, the amazing manager, set me up right away with the theory section and was super nice answering all my questions and offering coffee! Which I love! I sat in a comfy air conditioned room for a couple hours in the morning and watched the Padi video and completed the review questions at the end of each chapter (5 chapters total). Even met Keyana at the dive shop and went for lunch and a day at the beach! So fun! I met Kim (my instructor) the day before I went diving and she thoroughly ran through all the equipment and what to expect on our first day out. Kim was super patient with me and very specific as to what I should do which made it easy for me to be successful completing the skills whilst enjoying the dive experience. I’m a teacher so I could tell Kim was professional, extremely knowledgeable, encouraging, and dedicated to her student’s success. Best thing about my training is we saw a whale shark on each of our last dives, which is basically unheard of. This was a dream for me and I wouldn’t have experienced it without Kim and Panama Dive Center. So thankful and filled with joy that I’m a certified diver. One thing that was hard were the jellyfish! They were everywhere, but way worth the pain to see such amazing things. Aside from whale sharks, we saw humpback whales breaching on the trip in, swam with moray eels, white tip reef sharks, all types of pufferfish, schools of massive Jackfish and barracudas. I love Coiba and Panama Dive Center!

Jkayberry B - October, 2019TripAdvisor

Amazing center, clean, professional, and some of the best diving I’ve had yet!

I decided to go with Panama Dive Center after reading all the great reviews and I can confidently say I made the right choice. The staff is super professional, friendly, and immediately made me feel welcome and comfortable upon arrival. It had been two years since my last dive but they gave me a thorough refresher (free of charge!) the morning before our dives. Cedric was an amazing instructor, probably the best I’ve ever had, very open, knowledgable and professional. I did three fun dives and we saw a turtle, tons of reef sharks, lots and lots of moray eels, frogfish, dolphins and lots of lots of morays. We were even lucky enough to spot a humpback whale and her baby from the boat. Great lunch on the beach and they accommodated my gluten free diet. The center has free wifi and good coffee in the morning for the divers. The Coiba area and underwater life is beautiful and a must-visit if on the Panama Pacific. Highly recommend 10/10 – will dive again with them next time I’m in Santa Catalina!

yogiloca - July, 2019TripAdvisor

Awesome dive, professional team!

We dove with Panama Dive Center in February and had an amazing dive! We saw countless sharks, rays, turtles, schooling fish etc. Isla Coiba is truly an incredible place. We really enjoyed our dive with Panama Dive Center, they have a great location, dive center and very professional and friendly team. We would 100% recommend them in the future!

AlanAlan2 - February 2019TripAdvisor