Coiba National Park, Panama
Sunrise was at Coiba National Park and we anchored at “Granito de Oro.” This little island is home to many different species of coral fishes. On the bottom of the sea the white sand gave us an excellent background to observe carefully and clearly the myriad fishes at this coral reef.
We saw many interesting fish like the Moorish Idol, Orange Side Triggerfish, Three Banded Butterfly fish, Barberfish, Cortez Rainbow Wrasse, Scissor Tailed Damselfish, Bicolored Parrotfish, Tiger Snake Eel, White Tipped Sharks, as well as many others.
The name Coiba (the name of the national park) comes from a native Cacique that lived in that area; unfortunately he and his tribe disappeared but the island kept his name. Through the years Coiba became a resting place for pirates but then it turned quiet again.
While we were at Granito de Oro in the Coiba National Park we wondered about the time when Coiba was a prison (in between 1910 to 2003) and how things were there. Coiba was established to be a self-sufficient prison in which the prisoners would raise and grow their own feeding supplies. They raised pigs, cattle, chickens, and they had rice, corn and legume plantations that satisfied the basic feeding needs that they had. Some of them found Coiba to be a paradise after being sentenced for a long term in prison. Coiba is today a “National Park and a World Heritage Site” that hosts a very high level of endemism and is considered a jewel of the Central America Pacific Coast.
At the end of the day a group of 15 Pantropical Spotted Dolphins were having fun bowriding and swimming next to the National Geographic Sea Lion. It was a beautiful day.
