This morning the National Geographic Sea Lion arrived in Coiba National Park, one of Panama’s largest marine national parks, and a beautiful home to many birds, animals, and fishes. Morning exercisers looked at me in disbelief when I pointed out the island on our starboard side where we would spend the morning. It’s so small! Would we all fit? Envision a Gary Larsen The Far Side cartoon island with a few palm trees and large rocky outcropping. After breakfast we took our inflatable boats to the shore, swung our legs over the side, and stepped onto silky soft sand mixed with rocks and coral. As we made our way up the beach, movement caught our eyes. A double take revealed small pretty shells of varying shapes, colors, and sizes. As we continued on our way those pretty shells sprouted legs and began moving about. Hermit crabs! How fun! Charmed by their antics, we stopped to enjoy the welcoming show.
We spent the morning here on our “golden nugget”, Granito de Oro, and played in the water with all manner of toys—boogie boards, kayaks, stand-up paddle boards, noodles, and most especially snorkeling gear. The rocky outcropping is home to much wildlife and we donned snorkels, masks and fins and floated face-down to see what we could see. Fish spotted included sergeant fish, Moorish idol, spotted eels, hawksbill sea turtles, puffer fish, bicolor parrot fish, golden phase pacific box fish, and Cortez fish. In between activities, people rested in the shade, read books, and drank water and sports drinks. Some of the kids built sand mounds and had hermit crab races.
We boarded the ship for lunch, and repositioned to another nearby island for some afternoon walks and more swimming and snorkeling. Walkers saw many birds including manakins, cherry tanagers, banana quits, magnificent frigate birds, brown boobies, crested caracaras, and striped saltators. One of our naturalists demonstrated how to open a coconut using only a bamboo strip and one of the kids executed it perfectly without spilling a drop of the precious coconut milk. Wow—what a great skill to have in the tropics!
At this writing we have reconvened on the ship and are enjoying cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and evening recap. The ship is underway once again, and overnight we will cross into Costa Rica. What a beautiful day to spend for our winter solstice. Pura Vida!
