Awakening by Coiba National Park was a great way to begin to fulfill our guests’ high expectations, with the confidence of being able to deliver what we promised. National Geographic Sea Lion dropped anchor next to a piece of paradise, a small island called Granito de Oro, the perfect name for a place that literally is as valuable as grain of gold.
Coiba National Park, a former prison of Panama, is considered the third largest marine park in the world, after the Great Barrier and Galápagos Islands.
During the morning, after Darcy’s stretching class at the sundeck, we explored the island’s healthy coral reefs, the second largest in the Tropical Eastern Pacific.
The warm waters were inviting and the snorkelers went out to discover the diversity of fish, including moorish idols, king angelfish, cortez rainbow wrasses, Panamic sergeant major , Guineafowl puffer fish, bicolored parrot fish, trumpet fish and even a morray fish and a hawksbill sea turtle, among many others that showed up.
The beauty of this environment is within the adaptations, like a laterally compressed shape of a fish, sharp bones to defend themselves from predators or an anatomy in which it is hard to tell the front from the back of the fish. These are just some of the fascinating facts we learned about the coral reef inhabitants.
After a very relaxing morning, National Geographic Sea Lion repositioned to Coiba Ranger Station while the galley had prepared a delicious picnic lunch, very much appreciated by our guests.
Some people then went out to see a crocodile, a resident of Coiba and one of the most ancient creatures on earth. One of the amazing facts of its natural history is that as a reptile, the sex of the hatchlings will be determined by the nest’s temperature.
Then others did their upper body exercise kayaking in the area and we explored the premises of Coiba Station and saw beautiful birds, red legged honeycreepers, crimson backed, palm and blue gray tanagers, barred ant shrikes, a southern lapwing and by the end of the nature walk, a playful troop of white faced capuchin monkeys.
At our return, I gave a lecture on “Geological Evolution of Costa Rica and Panama” in order to help understand the marvels of nature that we are discovering during our journey through Panama and Costa Rica.
