The adventure begins! Just last night, National Geographic Sea Lion left Port Colon on the Caribbean coast of Panama and sailed into the first set of locks at Gatun, reaching the Gatun lake at 85 feet above sea level. The crossing of the locks was intense with the activity of many Panama Canal workers, electric locomotives hurrying up and down the sides of the locks and humongous Panamax container ships to our sides making us feel so little.
After a quiet and a well-deserved rest, a second Panama Canal pilot arrived before the break of dawn to lead our morning destination to the famous Barro Colorado Island or “BCI.”
When the Gatun Lake was created, higher hills became islands and soon after, the Smithsonian Institute began running a research facility at BCI.
BCI is very well known among the scientific community, much of what we know of the tropical rainforest has been, and is still discovered here.
In the morning we had opportunities to either explore by foot or by expedition landing craft cruises around island. All of our groups were led by BCI naturalists who explained the research that is taking place today and taught us about the rainforest while witnessing the wildlife that inhabits this important ecosystem. We saw howler monkeys, spider monkeys, ground dwelling rodents called agouties, snail kites, spotted antbirds and crocodiles amongst many other things.
Our tour of BCI gave us a firsthand experience of what the scientists of the past and present feel and have felt like while walking these trails.
In the afternoon we had the privilege of sailing through the rest of the Panama Canal, past historical locations such as the Gamboa dredging division, Culebra Cut, Centennial Bridge, Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks and then finally, under the Bridge of the Americas into the Pacific Ocean for more adventures to come.
