Coiba Island National Park, Panama
After our last day in Costa Rica, we navigated all night to the beautiful country of Panama. We arrived just after breakfast and disembarked at the small island of Granito de Oro. Some kayakers paddled around the island. The tide was low and the currents were slow. Coiba Island holds the second largest coral reef in the Eastern Pacific and we enjoyed a nice sample of that today. The reef is healthy and the structures of coral display a nice contrast of greens and reds.
Hawkfish jealously guarded the corals they live in and sometimes we could even spot the coral crabs. So much was going on in just the small area our eyes can cover. It didn’t matter which way we looked, because there was something interesting in every direction. A spotted moray eel was exposed on the sandy bottom, while the grunts were hiding under a rock. The yellow tail surgeonfish invaded the territory a giant damselfish was pretending to defend. A hawksbill turtle roamed in the reef and the parrotfish kept eating the coral. A school of blue Crevalle jacks scouted the area. The white tipped reef sharks slowly swam to deeper water waiting for the night to fall.
Meanwhile, above water some people were looking at birds. The magnificent frigatebirds, brown boobies and brown pelicans flew by the island, but some of us went after the blue throated goldentail, the hummingbird that visited the blooming vines in the back of the island.
After a nice leisurely morning at Granito de Oro, we went aboard for lunch and continued on our way to the Gulf of Panama. Along the way we saw turtles and dolphins, and had the great opportunity to listen to Rick Morales and his fascinating talk on the many crossings of Panama.
