Bona, Otoque and Iguana Islands
Today we awoke sailing out of the Gulf of Panama, towards the islands of Bona and Otoque; an outstanding nesting site for birds such as brown pelicans, brown and blue-footed boobies and magnificent frigate birds.
The crossing of the trade winds towards the Pacific blows over the Gulf of Panama, pushing the surface waters away and allowing cold waters to carrying nutrients to the surface. This is also known as upwelling and created the perfect environment for thousands of seabirds.
We watched two frigate birds chasing a booby in an attempt to steal the fish that it had just caught. The frigate is a kleptoparasitic bird. Their short feet and tarsi don’t allow them to dive and take off, so they let other species catch food for them, and then act as thieves. We could see spectacular displays of male frigates showing their red gular pouch to attract females.
On our way back to the ship we saw snowy color juvenile brown boobies sitting in their nests. Spotted rays came close; reminding us that the diversity here goes beyond the islands, and can be found in the tropical waters as well.
We continued sailing west towards Iguana Island. On our way, pan tropical spotted dolphins appeared in the waters challenging photographers to take their picture.
In the afternoon, we arrived at Iguana Island, a protected site that takes care of amazing white sand beaches and coral reefs, as well as a large colony of over 5000 magnificent frigate birds; providing those who took a short walk around the island with a great opportunity to catch a lifetime picture of the breeding colonies.
Every single explorer of the National Geographic Sea Lion tested the warm waters and snorkeled as a preparation for tomorrow’s unique snorkeling experience.
This was the end of another beautiful day in the tropics.
