Bona and Gulf of Panama, Panama
What a day! We spent yesterday cruising through the Panama Canal and who could have believed that so close to this busy seafaring lane was such a natural site as the seabird colonies found on Bona and Isla Otoque, these incredible islands being only 22 miles from the entrance to the canal! We spent the morning enjoying Zodiac cruises by the nesting colonies of Magnificent frigatebirds, brown boobies, blue-footed boobies and brown Pelicans. It was an amazing sight, birds, birds everywhere. We returned to the ship exhilarated and perhaps a little warm, as the sun was already making the day quite warm.
So it was a pleasant surprise indeed to swim from the stern of the ship, and also to find that the crew had turned one of the inflatable kayaks into a “banana boat” and as you can see above we managed to cool off by riding around on the improvised banana boat. What a great time was shared by the young and the young at heart!
We lifted the anchor at lunchtime and began our cruise across the Bay of Panama headed towards Isla Coiba. We kept a watchful eye for marine life and we were not disappointed, as right around cocktail hour we had a group of pantropical spotted dolphins join the ship, bow-riding and leaping out of the water, enjoying our passage as much as we enjoyed theirs!
We continued sailing through the night, eager for more adventures in Panama tomorrow.
What a day! We spent yesterday cruising through the Panama Canal and who could have believed that so close to this busy seafaring lane was such a natural site as the seabird colonies found on Bona and Isla Otoque, these incredible islands being only 22 miles from the entrance to the canal! We spent the morning enjoying Zodiac cruises by the nesting colonies of Magnificent frigatebirds, brown boobies, blue-footed boobies and brown Pelicans. It was an amazing sight, birds, birds everywhere. We returned to the ship exhilarated and perhaps a little warm, as the sun was already making the day quite warm.
So it was a pleasant surprise indeed to swim from the stern of the ship, and also to find that the crew had turned one of the inflatable kayaks into a “banana boat” and as you can see above we managed to cool off by riding around on the improvised banana boat. What a great time was shared by the young and the young at heart!
We lifted the anchor at lunchtime and began our cruise across the Bay of Panama headed towards Isla Coiba. We kept a watchful eye for marine life and we were not disappointed, as right around cocktail hour we had a group of pantropical spotted dolphins join the ship, bow-riding and leaping out of the water, enjoying our passage as much as we enjoyed theirs!
We continued sailing through the night, eager for more adventures in Panama tomorrow.
