Barro Colorado Island (BCI) & the Pacific Locks of the Panama Canal
Being one of the only marine vessels allowed to split its transit through the Panama Canal into two parts, the National Geographic Sea Lion dropped anchor in front of Barro Colorado Island (BCI), a man-made island that was created when the Chagres River was dammed in order to create Gatun Lake, around 1910.
BCI has, since the 1940’s, been a major research station. The world’s most famous tropical biologists have studied here, and the majority of the scientific information we know nowadays about tropical ecosystems has come from here as well. The island is approximately 3,800 acres and has over 25 miles of trails. Some of us explored about 10% of them on land while others took a Zodiac ride around the perimeters of the tropical rain forest.
Life almost anywhere is a complex intermingling of resources and energy by hundred of species, but the closer it gets to the equator, the more exuberant and complicated it gets. A country the size of the state of Colorado might have around 1300 bird species, almost as twice as many as Canada and the USA; although that does not imply that as soon as we step into the forest the animals are going to parade their way in front of our cameras.
No, it required patience, trained eye-sight and luck… so for that matter we were very lucky because as soon as we disembarked on the island, a troop of Spider monkeys welcomed us, as they were waking up. Later on, a male howler monkey made honor to his name as he performed a rumbling mix of gorilla-sea lion-leopard sounds… yes all in a 14 pound monkey.
And, as if these sights were not enough, the shaking branches revealed a Tamandua Anteater, a medium dog-sized mammal, which specializes in termites even when its name means “ant trap” in Tipi language from Brazil’s natives.
After lunch, the NG Sea Lion began its way through the famous narrow Gilliard or Culebra cut, which lead us to the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks, the second half of our transit through one of the world’s engineering marvels, the Panama Canal. As we were being lowered down 85 feet, back to sea level, the Galley surprised all of us with some fresh Panamanian ceviche and cocktails up on the sundeck.
The weather could not been better; a mild tropical breeze and a tranquilizing pastel color sunset matched the end of a day full of uniqueness. Welcome to the tropics of Central America.
