Coiba Marine National Park, Panama
A calm estuary fringed by a maze of mangrove trees, and surrounded by deep green jungles awaited us at the southern end of Coiba Islands, Panama’s largest marine national park.
Coiba is unique in Central America due to the high diversity of its marine ecosystems, and the healthy state of its forests; a fact that has attracted the attention of several national and international organizations, so much that it was recently designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
This morning the temperature was pleasant and the water very calm. Most of us took our kayaks up the estuary of Boca Grande, where a great number of wildlife species appeared before our eyes, such as green and black-spiny iguanas, small hawksbill turtles and an American crocodile, as well as numerous birds. Later in the afternoon, we repositioned our vessel to Granito de Oro Island, in the northern part of the park. This small isle is not much more than a white sandy beach nestled between a huge rocky outcrop and a few palms.
But the highlight of Granito lies in the myriad reef fish that surround it. Equipped with our masks and fins, we entered the water in search of parrotfish, damsels, and the occasional white tipped reef shark. And thus ended our last afternoon in Panama.
A calm estuary fringed by a maze of mangrove trees, and surrounded by deep green jungles awaited us at the southern end of Coiba Islands, Panama’s largest marine national park.
Coiba is unique in Central America due to the high diversity of its marine ecosystems, and the healthy state of its forests; a fact that has attracted the attention of several national and international organizations, so much that it was recently designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
This morning the temperature was pleasant and the water very calm. Most of us took our kayaks up the estuary of Boca Grande, where a great number of wildlife species appeared before our eyes, such as green and black-spiny iguanas, small hawksbill turtles and an American crocodile, as well as numerous birds. Later in the afternoon, we repositioned our vessel to Granito de Oro Island, in the northern part of the park. This small isle is not much more than a white sandy beach nestled between a huge rocky outcrop and a few palms.
But the highlight of Granito lies in the myriad reef fish that surround it. Equipped with our masks and fins, we entered the water in search of parrotfish, damsels, and the occasional white tipped reef shark. And thus ended our last afternoon in Panama.
