Barro Colorado Island and the Panama Canal
We began our Panama Canal adventure last night immediately after embarking the National Geographic Sea Lion. Our harbor pilot came on board to lead us towards the entrance of the Gatun Locks and as soon as we reached them, we started crossing the set of locks on the Caribbean Sea. These Locks were to lift us about 85 feet above sea level into the Gatun Lake, which was created when the valleys were flooded to form the Canal. We successfully crossed into the Lake and anchored until today very early in the morning. Another pilot came on board to take us to our anchoring spot in front of Barro Colorado Island, BCI, which was our morning destination. BCI is one of the most productive neotropical research stations, it has produced - and still produces - much of the knowledge we have on tropical ecology and general biology. We are the first expedition cruise company to visit the island on a regular basis and are very proud of having permission to visit their facilities.
After breakfast, some of us who chose to go for a walk, others boarded faithful Zodiacs to explore the edges of the island in search of wildlife. Exactly at disembarking time, it decided to rain. Not just some rain, but an incredible solid rain that barely allowed us to see two feet in front of us. Still, this did not deter anyone from going outside, and as the morning progressed, the weather got better. We all came back from our outings reporting sightings of howler, capuchin and spider monkeys, as well as agoutis, toucans, guans, snail kites and even a very big American crocodile. In the end, we were all very pleased with our choice of activity for the day.
Once all were back on board, we started with the last part of our Panama Canal transit, the section that would take us out into the Pacific Ocean, where we will spend the rest of our. Our third Panama Canal pilot, Captain David Cortes, came on board to take us through the Gailliard or Culebra Cut, the Pedro Miguel Locks, the Miraflores Lake and Locks, and finally under the Bridge of the Americas. We all went to bed with a satisfied smile on our faces.
