Isla Coiba
Isla Coiba is named after a local Cacique (Indian chief) from the island. This National Park is one of the fantastic land and marine parks in Panama with a total area of 270125 Hectares (667493 Acres). It was used as a prison from 1919 until 2004.
This turned out to be very good for the environment because its resources were not polluted, in other words, the place was protected from development since it became a prison. So in 2004 it became a park to guarantee its conservation.
Visited by an average of 3000 travelers annually, these islands are a paradise for nature lovers coming from Panama’s mainland, Santa Catalina and other ports.
We started the Zodiacs at 8:30 and visited Granito de Oro (golden nugget), a beautiful island with wonderful coral reefs. Here we climbed into the water and saw many fish species.
We saw the Moorish Idol (Zanclus cormutus), this individual is among the most popular and gorgeous fish in these waters, he is designed to eat among other things sea urchins, thus explaining its weird elongated mouth that can reach the center of the urchin after he has blown it upside-down. We also saw the common bicolor Parrotfish, which eats corral like a cow eats grass and then ejects sand (up to a metric ton per year) as a byproduct. We saw the popular Guinea Fowl Puffer which has as many fish do a younger face that is yellow and the adult face, which is dark blue with white spots. On land, the Hermit crabs really covered the island going in all directions giving the impression that the land was moving.
At 11:30, Willy Alfaro our Photographer/Naturalist took the kayakers on a 5-mile trip towards the ranger station as we repositioned the ship for a wonderful lunch on the island. After lunch we took easy hikes. Marcel did the botanical stroll on the island and Willy walked with the birdwatchers. Later we returned to the ship and another night in Costa Rica. That evening Marcel did his astronomy talk ending a wonderful day.
