Granito de Oro, Coiba, Panama
Last night we weighed anchor at Golfo Dulce. Today we entered Panama and out first stop was Coiba National Park. We found a wonderful oasis of coral reefs. Coiba Island was a penal colony turned into a National Park over the turn of the millennium and it has effectively protected wildlife, being the second largest marine reserve of the Eastern Pacific.
The kayakers took advantage of an overcast day. The weather seemed like it worked on demand. It stopped raining as we arrived, the clouds kept us from getting burnt and it started raining again as we left the island. Snorkeling was very good. The shallow reefs made it possible to watch the dynamics of the reef. A giant damselfish was unsuccessfully trying to chase away the school of razor fish off the patch of algae that it jealously guards and takes care of. A small school of Cortez rainbow wrasse was lacking a male, but the largest female was showing a very territorial behavior in what we can infer was the beginning of a change of gender and colors. The guinea fowl puffer seemed to be afraid of us and seemed to swim away seemingly unaware of how toxic they are. Some people saw a white tipped reef shark in its reef scouting. Hawk fish were very well camouflaged among the healthy coral covered with orange algae. The butterfly fish took small bites of polyps from the coral, opposed to the parrot fish that took mouthfuls of it even with crunchy calcium carbonate. Everything makes it through their digestion system and they contribute immensely to make the organic beaches.
After spending some time on this beautiful white sand island, we left for the Gulf of Panama for our new adventure. From the outer decks, we saw pan tropical spotted dolphins, sea turtles, golden eagle rays and brown boobies.
