At first light we got up the anchor and head to the park station to find out if it was possible for us to visit the park. There are lots of rumors about the fees to visit Coiba. Most of the rumor make it so expensive, that few yachts would consider it, as there is other raw wild in Panama. In fact most yachts avoid Coiba because of the rumors. We anchored just outside the Park Station after making a detour to the wrong bay because of our incorrect guide. Oh by the way "The Panama Canal Cruising Guide" by Eric Bauhaus has it in the wrong position. It is located between the small island and bite just southeast of the bay he has marked on the guide's chartlet. Otherwise, it is a great guide.

We launched the dinghy and went ashore at about 8:00 AM. On the beach we were greeted in both English and Spanish by very friendly park officials. We told them that we were interested in visiting the park with our yacht and wanted to know where we could go and what we could see. They politely ushered us in to the office of the head of the Park Station who explained to us in a combination of English and Spanish all that the park had to offer which seemed very enticing. Crocodiles, holler monkeys, red tail macaws, untouched rainforest, ruins of the penal colony, were all on the list. The only restriction was leave only footprints which should always be true.

Of course we had to pay. We asked how much and he said $10 per person which gave us access for either 30 days or 3 months, I was not quite clear. In either case this seemed like a screaming deal to us, so we easily coughed up the money and got our permit. You can also add a sport fishing permit, which I think was $30 and allows you to take up to 4 fish per person. If we stay longer we will probably get it.

We motored back to our original anchorage in the southwest corner of Bahia Damas, Coiba and went ashore. On our first stroll down the beach we found wild grapefruit, guava, very large lizards, baby crocodiles in a river and several slide marks from larger crocodiles. Tomorrow we will take the dinghy up the Bocas Grande which is a 4 mile long mangrove and rainforest lined inlet in search of crocodiles and other interesting stuff. The following day we can go up the river San Juan in search of the same.

I am so elated, it is so wild here and there is not a single other boat or person around for miles. Coiba National Park is fantastic!