The Island of Bona and the Panama Canal
Today we started our day anchored in front of Otoque, a small fishermen’s island, located south of the Bay of Panama. From our location, we could also see Bona and Estiva, another pair of islands populated only by birds. The sea here is rich because of upwelling waters with nutrients, attracting a number of fish and seabirds. During the morning we cruised in Zodiacs, observing the busy skies around Bona.
As if they were under a zoning system, the seabirds of the island have their own areas. Brown boobies were among the first species we found, nesting on the epiphytic cacti that grow over the rocky surface of Bona. Later we saw pelicans building nests on top of trees and blue-footed boobies lying on the rocks. We also saw magnificent frigatebirds busy covering the sky at one side of the island, and showing off their red inflated gullar sacks on the top of trees.
After the visit to Bona we started to move toward the Panama Canal. While we were passing by Taboga Island in only 95 foot deep waters, we realized that we were surrounded by at least 5 Bryde’s whales. We were just dazzled by the number of them, water spouts coming from all over, whales “logging”, just floating and pantropical spotted dolphins swimming with them. This stop held us for about an hour.
Eventually we arrived at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. The crew organized cocktail hour on the sundeck, where we had great views of all the kinds of ships that were transiting the Canal while the sun was setting.
After dinner we started the first half of our transit in the Panama Canal, keeping all of us awake until late night, passing Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks, and eventually the Culebra or Gaillard Cut.
