It feels almost magical! This morning, like all other mornings, we woke up in a different location—almost as if teleported from one place to another. This is truly one of the great benefits of expedition travel….we go places, without leaving our room!

This morning we woke up on a placid lake surrounded by hills and an island covered with dense green tropical rainforest. Nothing particularly different from the other days, except for the fact that this is fresh water, and we are 85 feet above sea-level.

Last night National Geographic Sea Lion sailed past the modern and impressive skyline of Panama City, under the bridge of the Americas and into the Panama Canal. From the modern to the old! Under the powerful incandescent lights, we witnessed the power of human will and craftsmanship, like so many other ships have in the last over 100 years. A canal truly built to last that is still bustling with intense activity. An unequivocal sign of the ever growing world of commerce, full of many gigantic ships of all shapes, transporting amazing quantities of goods around the world, and all funneled through this man-made narrow connection between the oceans.

The magical place we woke up at this morning is the famous Smithsonian administrated Barro Colorado Island, or BCI. Once a hilltop, it became an island when the Chagres River was dammed. For a long time, generation after generation of tropical scientist have been visiting this island, and today much of what is known about the tropical rainforest came from here. Our guests were given the chance to visit the island either by walking the network of trails on land or by circumnavigating it by boat. All groups were escorted by expert Smithsonian certified naturalist guides. During our visit to BCI we learned a lot about the past and present research done here, while seeing the interesting vegetation and wildlife. Among the many interesting things we saw today worth mentioning: American crocodiles, howler and spider monkeys, snail kites, slaty-tailed trogons, and Central American agouties.

Upon returning to the ship we spent the afternoon crossing the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal, and descending down again to sea-level: to Colon, on the Caribbean coast of Panama.

Full circle! And what a great week!