Today was our first full day on board National Geographic Sea Lion starting our trip from Panama to Costa Rica, but our adventure began yesterday right as we got on board the ship and crossed the first and largest set of Locks of the Panama Canal: Gatun. Here, we were elevated from Caribbean sea level in order to reach 85 feet to the level of Gatun Lake. This man made lake supplies the water used in the Panama Canal. Once off at the level of Gatun, we dropped anchor and spent a soothing quiet night.
National Geographic Sea Lion is the only ship in the area that intentionally interrupts its transit through the Panama Canal -with a good reason- in order to visit Barro Colorado Island (BCI). BCI is the biggest island created when they built the canal and one of the most well studied tropical rainforest on the face of planet earth.
The island was declared a biological reserve in 1923, and in 1946 it changed management to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Its contribution to our knowledge of tropical ecosystems is vast, it has become one of the main locations when it comes to research on the tropical environments.
Today, very early in the morning, our ship anchored to the main headquarters of BCI, and right after breakfast we had the honor of listening to Dr. Egbert Leigh give us a talk about the history of the island. Afterwards, we had the privilege of visiting the trails or exploring by boat along the island with Smithsonian guides. Many of us learned about the different studies occurring on the island but also, we observed our first glimpse of tropical rainforest wildlife with some inhabitants, including howler monkeys, spider monkeys, agouties, toucans, crocodiles, vine snakes.
By late afternoon, we welcomed our third pilot and started the last leg of our crossing of the Panama Canal. We witnessed the mouth of the famous Chagres River, then the largest floating crane known as Titan deployed at Gamboa, eventually entering Gaillard or Culebra cut and finally our arrival to Pacific waters clearing our last set of locks at Miraflores close to midnight.
