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Santa Catalina, Panama

BORN HERE.
BUILT BY THE
Ocean.

Spearbaby is not a tour company staffed by outsiders. It's a crew of hombres costeños — men born and raised on this coastline, who inherited the secrets of these waters from their fathers and their fathers before them.

Pietro Ciotti · Founder

The outsider who
never left.

My name is Pietro. I came to Santa Catalina from Italy over a decade ago — not for a holiday, not for a season. I came because the Pacific off this coast is one of the last truly wild, truly abundant corners of the ocean, and I wanted to be part of it.

What I found here was not just exceptional diving and fishing. I found a community of people — born on this coastline, shaped by it, carrying knowledge about these waters that no course or certification can give you. Knowledge passed down through generations, stored in hands and eyes and instincts that took a lifetime to develop.

Spearbaby was built around that knowledge. I bring the drive, the organisation and the vision. The team brings something far more valuable — a lifetime on these exact waters, in this exact ocean, with these exact fish.

Together, we offer something no other operation in Panama can: the experience of going to sea with people for whom this is not a job, but a birthright.

— Pietro
Pietro Ciotti underwater with yellowfin tuna, spearfishing Panama Pietro Ciotti with cubera snapper on the boat near Coiba Panama Pietro Ciotti on the Spearbaby boat heading offshore in Panama
Pietro Ciotti, founder of Spearbaby, on the boat heading offshore in Panama
10+
Years in Panama
“These waters have no secrets from us. We grew up inside them.”
— The Spearbaby crew, Santa Catalina

Three Brothers.
One Ocean. A Lifetime of Knowledge.

Orlando, Rolando and Alberto were born into a fishing family in Santa Catalina. Their ancestors worked these waters before roads reached this town. Every reef, every current, every season, every migration — passed down through generations of hands that knew no other life but the sea. The three brothers grew up on boats and underwater, learning the Pacific the way other children learn to read. That knowledge cannot be taught. It can only be inherited — and they carry it with them on every single trip.

Orlando Rolando Alberto
The Crew

Meet the people
behind every trip.

Every person on this team was born and raised in Santa Catalina. They are captains, divers, mechanics, navigators, cooks and companions. They know these waters not from a map — but from a lifetime of living them. Between them they carry decades of combined experience on this exact stretch of the Pacific, and a genuine passion for sharing it.

Orlando, captain and spearfishing guide at Spearbaby Santa Catalina Panama
The Brothers
Captain · Guide · Diver
Orlando Hombre Costeño · 37 years old

Orlando is the kind of captain who reads the ocean the way most people read a book — effortlessly, fluently, always ahead. Born in Santa Catalina into a family that has fished these waters for generations, he grew up learning the reefs, the currents and the seasons not in school but in the water, at his father's side.

At home behind the wheel of a panga or underwater with a speargun, Orlando is the complete guide: calm in difficult conditions, precise in his knowledge, and genuinely invested in making every guest's trip extraordinary. He knows spots that aren't on any chart — because he found them himself, the way his family always did.

Captain Spearfishing Freediving Navigation Marine Mechanics Sport Fishing
Orlando spearfishing underwater in Panama Orlando with catch on the Spearbaby boat Spearbaby crew with yellowfin tuna catch on the beach
Rolando, senior captain at Spearbaby, preparing boats at sunrise in Santa Catalina Panama
Captain · Guide · Diver
Rolando
39 years old · Santa Catalina born

The eldest of the three brothers. Rolando's calm authority sets the tone on any boat he runs. His knowledge of deep-reef structure and offshore current patterns is encyclopedic — the kind that only comes from a lifetime on the water, not a season. On every trip, guests feel immediately in the safest, most capable hands. He has seen every sea state these waters can produce, and he knows exactly what to do in all of them.

CaptainSpearfishingOffshore fishingMechanics
Rolando underwater with yellowfin tuna, spearfishing Panama Rolando and the Spearbaby crew with tuna catch
Alberto, captain at Spearbaby, steering the boat at sunset near Coiba Panama
Captain · Guide · Diver
Alberto
37 years old · Santa Catalina born

Alberto carries the same generational knowledge as his brothers but brings a particular energy on the water — contagious enthusiasm for the ocean that never fades. Whether he's reading a bait ball from the bow or guiding guests through a new reef for the first time, Alberto is all in. He knows every island, every anchorage, every spot worth stopping at between Santa Catalina and the horizon.

CaptainSpearfishingIsland guideSurf
Alberto spearfishing underwater with wahoo in Panama Alberto with fish on the Spearbaby boat near Coiba Alberto driving the boat at sunset near Santa Catalina Alberto captain of Spearbaby boat heading toward the islands
Spearbaby guide heading toward the islands of Coiba, Pacific Panama
Senior Captain · Guide
Willi
45 years old · Santa Catalina born

The most experienced captain on the team. Willi has been working these waters longer than most of his crewmates have been alive. His seamanship is instinctive, his knowledge of the Gulf of Chiriqui complete. Whatever the sea throws — weather, current, engine trouble fifty kilometres offshore — Willi has seen it before and knows exactly what to do. Guests who sail with him return feeling they were in the safest possible hands.

Senior captainDeep waterMechanicsNavigation
Spearbaby crew preparing boats at sunrise on Santa Catalina beach Spearbaby crew at work on the beach in Santa Catalina Panama
Irvin, captain and spearfishing guide at Spearbaby Santa Catalina Panama
Captain · Guide · Diver
Irvin
27 years old · Santa Catalina born

Don't let his age fool you — Irvin has been in the water here since before he could walk. Young, sharp and deeply connected to the reef, he is the team's most agile underwater guide: always first in and last out. His energy on spearfishing trips is electric. He hunts with precision, dives with confidence, and makes sure every guest feels part of the hunt — not just watching it from the surface.

CaptainSpearfishingFreedivingReef guide
Irvin and crew with catch on the Spearbaby boat Spearbaby team with giant cubera snapper near Coiba
Mauro, captain and guide at Spearbaby Santa Catalina Panama
Captain · Guide · Diver
Mauro
26 years old · Santa Catalina born

The youngest captain on the team and already one of the most complete. Born into the fishing culture of Santa Catalina, Mauro grew up knowing the difference between a good tide and a great one, between a productive reef and a spectacular one. On the water he is focused, attentive and tireless — the kind of guide who will dive ten times more than you, just to find the right spot before bringing guests in.

CaptainSpearfishingFreedivingSurf spots
Mauro preparing the cooler on the beach in Santa Catalina Spearbaby full crew with tuna on the beach
What We Stand For

The Spearbaby
philosophy.

Three principles that guide every trip we run — from the shortest half-day to the longest expedition.

100% Private

We never combine groups. When you book with Spearbaby, the boat is yours. Your guide is yours. Your experience is shaped entirely around your group, your pace and your goals — not around strangers with different expectations.

Generational Knowledge

Our local guides didn't learn these waters from a course. They inherited them. Their families have fished this coastline for generations — every reef, every current, every seasonal pattern is part of a living knowledge system that cannot be bought, certified or replicated. Only lived.

Selective & Ethical

We fish with purpose, not greed. We take what we'll eat, respect the seasons, and leave the ocean better than we found it. This coastline feeds our families and our guests. Protecting it is not a policy — it's instinct, and it's how we were raised.

Our Approach

“When you come out with us, you're not buying a service. You're being welcomed into something that has existed here for generations — and that we intend to pass on.”

— Spearbaby, Santa Catalina, Panama

COME FISH WITH
THE LOCALS.

Book directly with Pietro and the crew. No middlemen, no platforms, no compromise — just you, the boat and people who know every inch of this ocean.

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