Our first day in Panama caught us in the spectacular archipelago of Coiba, a former prison turned into a National Park and UNESCO World Heritage site due to its importance as the second largest reef on the Eastern Pacific. Guests explored Coiba Island Ranger Station, walking through its premises viewing scarlet macaws. Some guests exercised their upper body with paddleboarding, or sea kayaking with stingrays.
At Cocos Island we enjoyed snorkeling along a healthy reef inhabited by whitetip reef sharks, hawksbill and green sea turtles, bicolored parrotfish, Cortez rainbow wrasses, a spectacular snowflake moray eel, king angelfish and many more forms of life. We also spotted an underwater tropical garden, where a geological feature formed by refraction currents created a bridge of sediments between it and a pinnacle known as a tombolo. Pantropical spotted dolphins accompanied our sailing.
Photographers: Fico Chacón, Naturalist, Dan Baldwin, Undersea Specialist, and Ronald Calvo, Naturalist
