Barro del Colorado Island & Panama Canal
Our last day of the seven day trip through Costa Rica and Panama and we had a great finale for an incredible voyage. We awoke anchored in front of Barro del Colorado Island in the middle of the Panama Canal. This island is not a naturally-created island, in fact it was the largest mountain-top that became an island when the construction of the Panama Canal dammed the Chagres River. Damming the Chagres River created the Gatun Lake for the operation of the canal so the mountain-top became the Barro del Colorado Island in 1914.
Today it is considered a Mecca for scientists since it is one of the most well studied pieces of tropical rain forest in the world. From its beginning as an islan, scientists saw its value and in 1923 it was declared a biological reserve; then in 1946 it came under the administration of the Smithsonian Institution. This allowed it to become not only one of the best-studied tropical forests on the planet, but also the longest continuous research and largest databases of tropical forest that we have in the world.
After a nice introduction to the island by one of the scientists we took off on long and medium hikes, and also Zodiac outings to see this scientific “play-ground” and learn about their research. It was quite something to see nocturnal cameras and radio antennas in the middle of the forest, equipment that is used to track animals and take their pictures. In addition we got our last glimpses of toucans, monkeys, guans, agoutis, amongst other things.
Once back on board the ship we lifted anchor and began our sail through the rest of the Panama Canal. Late in the afternoon we made our way through the Gatun Lock, and were lowered 85 feet to the level of the Caribbean Sea. It was a true grand finale.
Our last day of the seven day trip through Costa Rica and Panama and we had a great finale for an incredible voyage. We awoke anchored in front of Barro del Colorado Island in the middle of the Panama Canal. This island is not a naturally-created island, in fact it was the largest mountain-top that became an island when the construction of the Panama Canal dammed the Chagres River. Damming the Chagres River created the Gatun Lake for the operation of the canal so the mountain-top became the Barro del Colorado Island in 1914.
Today it is considered a Mecca for scientists since it is one of the most well studied pieces of tropical rain forest in the world. From its beginning as an islan, scientists saw its value and in 1923 it was declared a biological reserve; then in 1946 it came under the administration of the Smithsonian Institution. This allowed it to become not only one of the best-studied tropical forests on the planet, but also the longest continuous research and largest databases of tropical forest that we have in the world.
After a nice introduction to the island by one of the scientists we took off on long and medium hikes, and also Zodiac outings to see this scientific “play-ground” and learn about their research. It was quite something to see nocturnal cameras and radio antennas in the middle of the forest, equipment that is used to track animals and take their pictures. In addition we got our last glimpses of toucans, monkeys, guans, agoutis, amongst other things.
Once back on board the ship we lifted anchor and began our sail through the rest of the Panama Canal. Late in the afternoon we made our way through the Gatun Lock, and were lowered 85 feet to the level of the Caribbean Sea. It was a true grand finale.
