Last night we started our Panama Canal transit, and today by special arrangement through the Panama Canal authority and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) we interrupted our transit in order to visit Barro Colorado Island (BCI). The sounds of the forest during our arrival to BCI are always unique. Red-lored parrots along with Mantled howler monkeys disrupted the quietness of the morning in this cloudless sunrise. Being on the sundeck stretching with our wellness coordinator Sokie or just enjoying the majestic view of the forest is a moment we don’t want to end; however it was time to enjoy breakfast in order to energize our body for our morning visit to BCI.
Barro Colorado Island was established as a biological sanctuary in 1923, and it has been administrated by STRI, providing an enormous volume of information in helping researchers understand the striking complexity and overwhelming interactions among species. Today with the expertise of BCI guides we explored part of the network of trails by hiking, or we explored some of the endless amount of coves on the northeastern end of the island cruising in our expedition landing craft.
Once we returned to National Geographic Sea Lion our next Panama Canal pilot arrived to our astern; excellent news! We will have a mid-afternoon transit. Then we repositioned to the entrance of Gatun locks; however while we were waiting to enter the west lane of Gatun locks, on the bridge, our second mate Christian Breeding with the consensus of the Panama Canal pilot provided the unique opportunity to witness the work of the expansion and creation of the new set of locks on the Caribbean side.
During our final leg of our Panama Canal transit we started to think about the great week traveling with different families. We really hope that our young explorers and our adult guests enjoyed this New Year’s arrival experiencing the best of the culture and nature of Costa Rica and Panama. On my side all of the best wishes for this 2014!
