12 days | Isla Solarte, Bocas del Toro & San San Pond Sak, Panama | Ages 14-18 | $4, 750USD
Combine your passion for marine life and service on this unforgettable 12-day scuba diving and environmental expedition. Begin your journey in the breathtaking Caribbean archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Panama, where you’ll start earning your Scuba Diver or Advanced Scuba Diver certification. Your training will begin with foundational dive techniques, progressing to more advanced skills that will be put to the test on vibrant coral reef dives, exploring hidden shipwrecks, and a mesmerizing bioluminescent night snorkel or scuba dive. Already certified? Earn your advanced certification with dives like a compass navigation dive and a thrilling deep-water dive.
After your underwater adventures, it’s time to give back to the community through a development project designed to meet local needs. Then, head to the stunning wetlands of San San Pond Sak, where you’ll gain insight into the endangered status of local sea turtles. Get hands-on with conservation efforts by releasing newly hatched turtles, excavating old nesting sites, and completing night patrols to monitor sea turtles as they lay their eggs in the sand.
Along the way, you’ll also challenge yourself with wakeboarding and kneeboarding, explore a limestone cave, relax on the white sands of Playa Carenero, and contribute to environmental conservation efforts. This is more than just a dive trip—it’s an opportunity to make a lasting impact while immersing yourself in the wonders of marine life.
Dates: Jun. 28 – July.9, 2025 (Session #1)
July. 12 – July. 23, 2025 (Session #2)
July. 26 – Aug. 6, 2025 (Session #3)
Cost: $4, 750 USD | £3, 801 GBP | C$6, 806 CAD | €4, 582 EUR
Tuition includes all room and board, technical gear, course activities, and in-country transportation. Airfare to/from Costa Rica is not included in the listed tuition cost.
Please note the original course prices are set in U.S. Dollars (USD). Prices above are shown for your reference, based on the exchange rate of the last website update on January 6, 2025. The final course price will be based on the exchange rate at the time of payment
PLEASE NOTE: This is a sample itinerary. Details are subject to change.
Day 1
Fly into Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaria Airport (SJO) to meet your new friends and course mates. Don’t forget to connect to the free airport WiFi to let your parents know that you have arrived. From there you will meet our staff members waiting for you outside of the airport’s only exit. A scenic one-hour drive will take you through the city and into the rolling hills of the country’s Central Valley to our Mountain Rainforest Base. Arrive at basecamp and enjoy a welcome meal with your group. Settle in for a great night’s sleep in our Rainforest Base furnished bunk bed dorms.
Day 2
After a typical Costa Rican breakfast, you will jump into getting to know your course mates and instructors better, through a series of teamwork based activities. Orientation begins and technical tree climb at the OBCR mountain rainforest base at Tres Rios.
Day 3
Overland transport to a remote indigenous island village in Panama
Day 4-9
Wake early, depart to cross the Panama border and take a boat taxi across the Caribbean waters to your picturesque island home in the archipelago of Bocas del Toro. Scuba and service begins.
Day 10
Overland travel back to our Rainforest Base camp in Costa Rica.
Day 11
Gear clean, course close, ceremony, and banquet.
Day 12
Course closing and fly home. Transfer to the Juan Santamaría Airport (SJO) for departure. Say hasta luego to your friends and coursemates. Nos vemos pronto en Costa Rica!
Accommodation
Accommodation varies throughout this course, but will include overnight tent camping under a traditional thatched-roof lodge and on the grounds of a local community, and community dorm bunk beds, Homestay housing. All participants are provided with sleeping mats and warm sleeping bags.