Panama, Bay of Panama
Leaving the Panama Canal behind us, we sailed approximately 22 nautical miles into the Gulf of Panama, and aimed to spend the morning exploring a couple of islets in the area. The waters in this gulf are particularly rich, as a break in the mountain chains that parallel the western coastlines of several Central American nations allow the trade winds to blow over the Gulf. This pushes the surface waters away; nutrient-rich waters from below rise to replace them, bringing about an extremely high productivity that forms the basis of a complex web of life. This is called an upwelling. Taking advantage of this phenomenon, millions of sea birds live and nest all through the islands inside the Gulf of Panama.
This morning we explored a couple of these islets named Otoque and Bona, that combine interesting geology with dense tropical vegetation and large colonies of, amongst others, two booby species, pelicans and magnificent frigate birds. After breakfast, and once we lowered our fleet of Zodiacs into the cold waters (“all’s relative,” my grandma used to say), we all took beautiful Zodiac cruises along the shorelines of these islands. As these are a seabird paradise, we had a wonderful opportunity to see these animals in their daily life routine and great chances of photographing them!
Just after the cruises, we lifted anchor and spent part of the afternoon at sea, heading towards our late afternoon site, Isla Iguana or Iguana Island. A Wildlife Refuge, this small island of the Pacific Coast of Panama, harbours a large number of frigate birds. As it is the beginning of their nesting season, we had great views of the male birds doing their display. At sunset, we all went back on board, with broad smiles and wondering about what tomorrow might offer.
