Barro Colorado Island and the Panama Canal, Panama
Many of us come south of the border for two main reasons; the first is the canal transit, which has always been part of our history, and the second the tropical rainforest. What a better way to begin our trip than with both! Our adventure began yesterday, as we arrived to our home away from home for a week, the Sea Voyager, to begin our transit through the Panama Canal starting with the first set of locks, the Gatun locks, located on the Caribbean side of the isthmus. The perfectly lit locks and chambers were a sight to see for the newcomer, and since the night hours bring with them more workers, there is more activity at this time.
Our first morning found us resting just outside the most famous tropical research station of the New World tropics, Barro Colorado Island (BCI). Established as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in 1923, it has been home to researchers for years. With some of the grandparents of all projects (as several studies on plants, soils and rainfall are more than 80 years old) still on-going on the island, BCI is a dream destination for tropical researchers.
Later today our pilot arrived and moved us towards the last two sets of locks: Pedro Miguel Locks and Miraflores Locks on the Pacific side. Our partner ship joined us and on we went to finish our transit. Sunlight, fresh water, row boats, laughing gulls, and “mules” accompanied us all the way. For some of us the first time across the isthmus, for others not the first time, but as we all know, there is always some new detail, some new mechanism to understand.
In the end, the locks, the boats, the monkeys, the anteater, the “mules”, the new food, the toucans, Zodiac rides or hikes, everything got together to deliver a perfectly glorious first day!
Many of us come south of the border for two main reasons; the first is the canal transit, which has always been part of our history, and the second the tropical rainforest. What a better way to begin our trip than with both! Our adventure began yesterday, as we arrived to our home away from home for a week, the Sea Voyager, to begin our transit through the Panama Canal starting with the first set of locks, the Gatun locks, located on the Caribbean side of the isthmus. The perfectly lit locks and chambers were a sight to see for the newcomer, and since the night hours bring with them more workers, there is more activity at this time.
Our first morning found us resting just outside the most famous tropical research station of the New World tropics, Barro Colorado Island (BCI). Established as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in 1923, it has been home to researchers for years. With some of the grandparents of all projects (as several studies on plants, soils and rainfall are more than 80 years old) still on-going on the island, BCI is a dream destination for tropical researchers.
Later today our pilot arrived and moved us towards the last two sets of locks: Pedro Miguel Locks and Miraflores Locks on the Pacific side. Our partner ship joined us and on we went to finish our transit. Sunlight, fresh water, row boats, laughing gulls, and “mules” accompanied us all the way. For some of us the first time across the isthmus, for others not the first time, but as we all know, there is always some new detail, some new mechanism to understand.
In the end, the locks, the boats, the monkeys, the anteater, the “mules”, the new food, the toucans, Zodiac rides or hikes, everything got together to deliver a perfectly glorious first day!
