Coiba Island & Granito de Oro
Welcome to Panama! Coiba Island was our first stop as we entered Panamanian waters. One of many privileges of being on board the National Geographic Sea Lion is to have access to unique places and to encounter precious moments interacting with nature. Today our experiences were mostly related to marine ecosystems.
Coiba Island is the third largest marine park in the world. Its former history is related to indigenous groups that were forcibly removed by Spanish conquistadores. The name Coiba could possibly be related to the dominant chief in control during the time of the Spanish “discovery”. Later on, the history of Coiba is little known, except for some coconut plantations and the possible operation of a pearl fishery. In November 1919 the government of Panama acquired this private territory and created a penal colony. The constitution of this prison caused the area to be very isolated, which consequently preserved its forest and marine areas. Most of the island is covered by forest, and once the prisoners were moved to other locations, the island opened for small amounts of visitors.
This morning an unusual wind from the east worried us about the conditions for snorkeling and kayaking. Nevertheless, as we arrived at Granito de Oro we found that the wind created an eleven foot tide that was concentrating the fish in certain calm sections of the rocky reef. In addition, as the wind eased its intensity the conditions became sublime by late morning. Rainbow wrasse, scissortail chromis, bluechin parrotfish, white tip reef sharks and some guests even observed the elusive hawksbill turtle and an octopus.
By midday we returned to our ship to sail one hundred and eighty nautical miles to our next destination, the Gulf of Panama and the Panama Canal. As we were navigating around the Azuero Peninsula we enjoyed a majestic sunset. After dinner, we spent time star gazing in search of the mythical Southern Cross (Crux) with Centaurus right next to it. Finally, Saturn in the east led the way to our next adventure.
