Granito de Oro, Coiba Island, Panama
Our wonderful Christmas and New Year’s adventure through the Central American republics of Panama and Costa Rica proceeded today, after the great highlight of a couple of days crossing the Panama Canal, with our last day in Panama spent around the spectacular Coiba Island. Once a penal colony, this island has been preserved in all its pristine glory, and allowed us a glimpse into another extremely important Neotropical ecosystem: the coral reef. Over our week on board the Sea Voyager, we are to explore many important tropical ecosystems, including mangals and coastal rainforests, but this is the one day we dedicate entirely to the coral reef, as Coiba is home to the second largest coral reefs in the entire tropical eastern Pacific.
We anchored against the backdrop of a beautiful, multi-coloured sunrise alongside a tiny islet of white coralline sand and dense tropical vegetation, until our arrival home only to millions of hermit crabs. The winds had picked up, and the waters looked a little on the choppy side, so many of our travellers chose to take a short trip to the park ranger station on the large main island, where we looked for many tropical bird species and strolled around Coiba. As the morning progressed, the winds dropped and lowering tides exposed ever-increasing amounts of the tiny “Granito de Oro,” or little grain of gold – the Sea Voyager’s exclusive little desert island for the day!
We donned our masks and fins and entered a different world. Colourful parrotfish, wrasse and surgeonfish munched on coral and grazed of algae, which the frantic damselfish desperately tried to protect by driving the intruders away. Moorish idols, sergeant majors, butterfly fish and angelfish flitted amongst the corals, catching small members of the plankton and preying on the polyps themselves. Hawkfish, cabrillas and sinuous moray eels lurked among the coral heads waiting for their unsuspecting prey to come just a little too close. But looking further afield, into the depths and the open waters, large schools of faster, more predatory and silvery fish abound: pompanos and jacks, barracuda and tuna, as well as the more colourful snapper, goatfish, chub and grunts. Over 50% of adult fish and 75% of juveniles form tight, polarized schools, as it is both an excellent means of protection, as well as detecting both predators and prey.
Once back on board, I showed everyone some footage taken on the reef today, to identify the many species we had encountered (which even included white-tipped reef sharks and hawksbill turtles!), after which we enjoyed cocktails and refreshments on the outer decks, enjoying schools of Pantropical spotted dolphin playing among the waters rendered crimson by the sun setting over our last day in Panama.
Our wonderful Christmas and New Year’s adventure through the Central American republics of Panama and Costa Rica proceeded today, after the great highlight of a couple of days crossing the Panama Canal, with our last day in Panama spent around the spectacular Coiba Island. Once a penal colony, this island has been preserved in all its pristine glory, and allowed us a glimpse into another extremely important Neotropical ecosystem: the coral reef. Over our week on board the Sea Voyager, we are to explore many important tropical ecosystems, including mangals and coastal rainforests, but this is the one day we dedicate entirely to the coral reef, as Coiba is home to the second largest coral reefs in the entire tropical eastern Pacific.
We anchored against the backdrop of a beautiful, multi-coloured sunrise alongside a tiny islet of white coralline sand and dense tropical vegetation, until our arrival home only to millions of hermit crabs. The winds had picked up, and the waters looked a little on the choppy side, so many of our travellers chose to take a short trip to the park ranger station on the large main island, where we looked for many tropical bird species and strolled around Coiba. As the morning progressed, the winds dropped and lowering tides exposed ever-increasing amounts of the tiny “Granito de Oro,” or little grain of gold – the Sea Voyager’s exclusive little desert island for the day!
We donned our masks and fins and entered a different world. Colourful parrotfish, wrasse and surgeonfish munched on coral and grazed of algae, which the frantic damselfish desperately tried to protect by driving the intruders away. Moorish idols, sergeant majors, butterfly fish and angelfish flitted amongst the corals, catching small members of the plankton and preying on the polyps themselves. Hawkfish, cabrillas and sinuous moray eels lurked among the coral heads waiting for their unsuspecting prey to come just a little too close. But looking further afield, into the depths and the open waters, large schools of faster, more predatory and silvery fish abound: pompanos and jacks, barracuda and tuna, as well as the more colourful snapper, goatfish, chub and grunts. Over 50% of adult fish and 75% of juveniles form tight, polarized schools, as it is both an excellent means of protection, as well as detecting both predators and prey.
Once back on board, I showed everyone some footage taken on the reef today, to identify the many species we had encountered (which even included white-tipped reef sharks and hawksbill turtles!), after which we enjoyed cocktails and refreshments on the outer decks, enjoying schools of Pantropical spotted dolphin playing among the waters rendered crimson by the sun setting over our last day in Panama.
