Panama, Barro del Colorado Island and Panama Canal
Although today is the first full day of our voyage between Panama and Costa Rica, our adventure started yesterday evening right after we got on board National Geographic Sea Lion. Once on board, we started our transit of the first set of locks of the Panama Canal, from the Caribbean Sea through Gatun Locks, where we were elevated up to the level of the Gatun Lake, 85 feet about sea level, in a series of three steps, all done with the power of gravity.
Today we awoke in the middle of the Panama Canal, on the man-made lake of Gatun, in front of Barro del Colorado Island, which was a mountain top before the lake was created and is now the biggest island in the Panama Canal, better known as BCI.
BCI is not only the biggest island created with the construction of the Panama Canal, but is also one of the most well-studied tropical forests in the world. It was declared a biological preserve in 1923, and in 1946 it came under the management of the Smithsonian Institute, making it a true Mecca for tropical research; a scientists’ playground, if you like! But a playground that has been running for a long time, providing all kinds of breakthroughs in the study of tropical forests.
So with this in mind we spent the first part of our morning exploring this unique place with Zodiac rides and forest walks, where we learned about the different types of studies that are taking place here, as well as having our first encounter with tropical wildlife.
After lunch we spent the rest of the day making our way across the Gatun Lake through Culebra Cut and the other three sets of locks of the Panama Canal that lowered our vessel 85 feet to the level of the Pacific Ocean. Even though the Panama Canal was made close to a hundred years ago, it still is one of the most important waterways of our era.
