Barro Colorado Island (BCI) & the Panama Canal, Panama
Yesterday evening the National Geographic Sea Lion completed its southbound transit through the Gatun Locks and dropped anchored in Gatun Lake. Our morning destination was a little further into Gatun Lake at Barro Colorado Island in the heart of the Panama Canal. Remember that fresh water is the motor for this masterpiece of human engineering, and therefore the protection of the surrounding rain forest plays a major role in the proper and future operations of the Panama Canal.
Today’s outing was a great introduction to our trip through the tropics of Central America, and to the ecosystems that contain the vast majority of living species on planet Earth. First, we started by experiencing the warm and humid weather, the bright and strong tropical sun and how completely unexpected a shower can fall down, and then as fast as it comes, it goes. Second, we were able to count ourselves as part of the few people in the world that have had the chance to walk through one of the most researched rain forests in the world, a Mecca for major tropical biologists and their discoveries.
We returned from our explorations of either walking around the island or riding Zodiacs around its perimeter, all of us had great sighting of monkeys, crocodiles, toucans and kites among many more. Then our ship lifted anchor and navigated the rest of the majestic Gatun Lake. We were framed by the overwhelming rain forest and every now and then a splash of yellow color from the Tabebuias trees. Little by little the passage got narrower; our Panamanian Naturalist Roberto Medina announced that we were sailing through the world famous Culebra Cut. This part of the Canal was the hardest to finish due to the characteristics of the terrain. Thousands of tons of rocks would landslide as fast as the workers were cutting the rock; even nowadays constant dredging needs to be done in this area.
As the sun was setting, the National Geographic Sea Lion was being lowered the same 85 feet that we were raised yesterday, this time bringing us to the Pacific sea level. The view from the bridge deck over the last set of doors was the perfect feeling of freedom and exploration. The thrilling feeling of the unexpected, a new trip, a new week and new memories. Welcome to Central America!
