Vast black birds circle slowly over towering slopes of green tangled forest. The shoreline ahead is dotted with empty white-sand bays used as nesting grounds by hundreds of sea turtles and home to colonies of scarlet macaws, virtually extinct on the mainland.
Visitors to Coiba, an unspoilt, tropical island 70km off the Pacific coast of Panama, owe a debt of gratitude to the country's criminal fraternity. Used as a federal penal colony until the end of 2004, Coiba has been spared exploitation by developers.
Its waters and forest remain a pristine refuge for a staggering abundance of wildlife. The National Park boasts the second largest coral reef in the eastern Pacific. Huge schools of barracuda, five different kinds of shark, giant snappers, turtles and sea horses are just a few of the marine species that cruise around these waters. And for a few months a year they are joined by humpback, sperm and pilot whales teaching their young to swim in the warm waters around the reserve.
Designated a world heritage site in July, Coiba is only just beginning to open up to tourism. But the Panamanian government has big plans for the island. The number of tourists visiting Panama has doubled in the last three years, topping one million in 2004. More are expected to flock to its coffee-scented hills, pristine rainforest and Caribbean beaches, but Coiba will be the main attraction.
Five minutes of snorkelling off the beach of one of the small Robinson Crusoe-esque outlying islands of the reserve and I have already seen more underwater life than I thought possible. A beautiful green sea turtle glides gracefully through the tidal currents. Within minutes, we are surrounded by a whirling shoal of striped fish and I almost choke on my snorkel as two miniature white-tipped reef sharks zip past.
The owner of the Scuba Coiba dive shop in the beach town of Santa Catalina, Herbie Sunk (yes, really), runs snorkelling, diving and fishing tours. In anticipation of a tourist boom he has also started running eco-tours and seasonal whale watching trips that include snorkelling, a Heart of Darkness trip up one of Coiba's crocodile-infested rivers and a visit to the old penal colony. The tour also includes a short but vigorous trek on one of the island's new tourist trails. As the forest rose like a wall around us, the damp earthy air soaked our skin. It was eerily quiet until a primeval holler announced the arrival of the howler monkeys. Swinging only metres above, us they bared their teeth and screamed with rage at these unexpected trespassers. Future trails will allow tourists to access the interior for the first time.
At present, only Panamanian tour company Ancon Adventures offers land-based multi-day trips to Coiba, and only occasionally. But as money is poured into the reserve, cheaper day trips, like the ones run by Herbie, as well as a rapidly expanding diving and fishing scene will help transform the Pacific coast around the park.
Santa Catalina is currently the easiest way to reach the island. A new sealed road connects the town to the cities of David and Santiago, easily accessible from Panama City. Santa Catalina is still pretty basic but it has seen major changes in the past year. New air-conditioned apartments sit alongside the simple cabanas built for the surfing pilgrims who come to chase some of the best waves in Latin America. The tiny dirt-road town is full of disarmingly friendly locals happy to show you around. With one phone and no bank you won't find good shopping or haute cuisine, but a handful of local restaurants serve cold beer and hearty $2 seafood and rice dishes to tables of sun-bleached dudes. As dusk falls, the town gathers on the beach for a nightly beach football match before heading off to the one and only bar, where rum fumes and reggae spill out on to the street.
Santa Catalina will soon face competition from nearby coastal towns also due for development. From next year, an airport under construction in the natural harbour of Bahia Honda will fly tourists directly from Panama City to a swathe of sparkling new tourist resorts, hotels and eco-lodges.
As well as the bird-watching, diving and snorkelling, Coiba's dark history will continue to provide titillation for paying guests. The government now plans to transform it into an Alcatraz-style museum. Prison guards, swapping batons for new badges as eco-police, are more than happy to give guided tours and explain the history of the penal colony.
More than 20 camps scattered around the island kept over 4,000 prisoners of different religion, race and gang allegiance apart. And, according to local myth, former president Noriega also used Coiba as a convenient place to "lose" political prisoners. Not surprisingly the prison guards locked themselves in their barracks at night.
In years to come, Coiba might well turn out to rival the canal as Panama's most famous landmark. Those seeking an experience that provides glimpses into unknown underworlds and an ecological wonderland should get on the next boat out there.
Way to go
Getting there
Journey Latin America (020-8747 3108, journeylatinamerica.co.uk) offers flights to Panama City via Madrid with Iberia Airlines from £640 rtn inc tax, and also organises tailored-made trips to Panama. Panaline buses from Panama City to Santiago. Aeroperlas (aeroperlas.com) is due to start direct Panama City-Santiago flights from January 2006. A 4x4 taxi Santiago-Santa Catalina cost $50.
Where to stay Sol y Mar (reserve through scubacoiba.com) has double air-con cabins for $45 per night.
Activities In Santa Catalina, Scuba Coiba runs eco-tours and whale-watching trips for $70pp. Two-tank dive trips to Coiba national park start from $250pp. Ancon Expeditions (anconexpeditions.com) runs multi-day land expeditions to Coiba from $300pp.
Further information visitpanama.com
Flight time Heathrow-Panama City via Madrid: 18hrs.
Country code: 00 507.
Time difference: -6hrs. £1 = 1.74 US dollars.
