As soon as sunrise arrived, National Geographic Sea Lion was anchored by a natural monument, home to hundreds of studies and research projects of tropical natural history that have taken place for almost a century. We were lucky to have had the chance to visit this sanctuary.
This is the benefit of traveling on the only vessel in the world that is allowed to stop in the middle of the Panama Canal and complete it in 2 days instead of one.
When the Lake Gatun was flooded in 1923, Barro Colorado Island (BCI) emerged as such. The top of a hill was not covered by water; therefore, it remained with its tropical forest and its inhabitants. Today, it is run by the Smithsonian Institute and we have the privilege to visit and explore this living laboratory.
Agoutis, caciques, spider monkeys, slaty-tailed trogons and crested guans welcomed us as some hiked the trails and other ones took an expedition landing craft cruise excursion to experience BCI.
We returned to the ship, enjoyed our lunch and immediately, with the Panama Canal pilot on board, started our transit of the Gatun locks to reach the Caribbean side. I completed my 53rd transit of the canal and enjoyed it as if it was my first and last time doing it. I am always impressed by the accomplishment of the engineers more than 100 years ago. A special bonus was observing at a distance the canal expansion locks on the Caribbean side fully operational and the huge ships that are able to cross now the Panama Canal.
Our day finished with a wonderful social hour, watching the slide show prepared by our photo instructor Jose Calvo with the collaboration of all the guests’ photos from our journey.
We look forward to have you return to travel with us in the future.
