Otoque, Bona & Iguana Island, Gulf Of Panama
It’s the second day of the trip, and we had an early start before breakfast at the Gulf of Panama with a Zodiac cruise around islands that boast nesting colonies of sea birds such as brown pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds, brown boobies, and neotropical cormorants. And even though they do not nest in this part of the world, we got to see some blue footed boobies. However, the most impressive thing was not the different species per se, but the numbers in which they were found: easily thousands of them out there soaring in the sky.
The reason for that is because the Gulf of Panama is one of the few places in Central America in which you get to see a phenomenon know as “seasonal upwelling,” which is an enrichment of the waters triggered by the trade winds, and that only happen at this time of the year. But what is exactly an upwelling? In this case, it means that at this time of the year the trade winds are stronger than usual and are capable of blowing from the Caribbean all the way across the continental divide. In places like the Gulf of Panama with low mountain passes, they reach the Pacific with enough strength to blow the warm water from the surfaces, which causes it to be replaced by nutrient-rich cold water from the bottom. When this rich water reaches the surface, an explosion of life takes place and you will have a boom of plankton taking advantage of the nutrient-rich water. This in turn will attract small fish to feed on the plankton, and they attract larger fish and so on and so on . . . So the bounty is big enough that the even the sea birds can get their peace of the pie.
In the afternoon, we had a chance to visit an island known as Iguana, where we were able to walk to a frigate bird nesting colony, do some snorkeling, or just chill out on the beach enjoying the beautiful view of the waves breaking in on the white sand.
It’s the second day of the trip, and we had an early start before breakfast at the Gulf of Panama with a Zodiac cruise around islands that boast nesting colonies of sea birds such as brown pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds, brown boobies, and neotropical cormorants. And even though they do not nest in this part of the world, we got to see some blue footed boobies. However, the most impressive thing was not the different species per se, but the numbers in which they were found: easily thousands of them out there soaring in the sky.
The reason for that is because the Gulf of Panama is one of the few places in Central America in which you get to see a phenomenon know as “seasonal upwelling,” which is an enrichment of the waters triggered by the trade winds, and that only happen at this time of the year. But what is exactly an upwelling? In this case, it means that at this time of the year the trade winds are stronger than usual and are capable of blowing from the Caribbean all the way across the continental divide. In places like the Gulf of Panama with low mountain passes, they reach the Pacific with enough strength to blow the warm water from the surfaces, which causes it to be replaced by nutrient-rich cold water from the bottom. When this rich water reaches the surface, an explosion of life takes place and you will have a boom of plankton taking advantage of the nutrient-rich water. This in turn will attract small fish to feed on the plankton, and they attract larger fish and so on and so on . . . So the bounty is big enough that the even the sea birds can get their peace of the pie.
In the afternoon, we had a chance to visit an island known as Iguana, where we were able to walk to a frigate bird nesting colony, do some snorkeling, or just chill out on the beach enjoying the beautiful view of the waves breaking in on the white sand.
