Bona, Otoque And Iguana Island, Panama
Today was our second day on board the Sea Voyager after completing our transit of the Panama Canal. It was our first time sailing through the Pacific Ocean and what a great day it was.
We had an early start before breakfast at 6:45 A.M. to go on a Zodiac cruise to explore a set of three islands on the Bay of Panama, named Otoque, Bona and Estiva. These islands are used by sea birds as nesting colonies during this time of the year. We had a great cruise, since we had spectacular sightings of nesting magnificent frigatebirds, brown pelicans, brown boobies, black-crowned night-herons, some dolphins and even some blue footed boobies. The latter do not nest in these islands, but are here for the good rich waters abundant with life during this time of the year.
The waters of the this bay experience what is called a seasonal upwelling, thanks to the trade winds that are blowing with such a strength, capable of blowing across the isthmus of Central America. Gusting from the Atlantic into the Pacific coast across the continental divide and low passes on the mountains, they have enough speed to reach the bay with enough power to blow the warm sterile water of the surface. This action will replace the warm waters with cold ones from the bottom nutrient rich. As soon as it gets to the surface where the intense sun rays are, the upwelling is triggered, and there is a booming of plankton that attracts small fish that will feed on the plankton and some larger fish to feed in the small ones. This food chain begins and with it the nesting of the sea birds that we saw today.
Quite a morning but our visit to Isla Iguana in the afternoon didn’t stay behind. Right at our landing, we were welcomed by land crabs spawning right at the beach. For the bird lovers, this island happened to be a nesting colony to frigatebirds, and we got to see them much closer during a walk this time. To close the day, we saw two scarlet tanagers in full breading plumage on their way north for nesting.
Today was our second day on board the Sea Voyager after completing our transit of the Panama Canal. It was our first time sailing through the Pacific Ocean and what a great day it was.
We had an early start before breakfast at 6:45 A.M. to go on a Zodiac cruise to explore a set of three islands on the Bay of Panama, named Otoque, Bona and Estiva. These islands are used by sea birds as nesting colonies during this time of the year. We had a great cruise, since we had spectacular sightings of nesting magnificent frigatebirds, brown pelicans, brown boobies, black-crowned night-herons, some dolphins and even some blue footed boobies. The latter do not nest in these islands, but are here for the good rich waters abundant with life during this time of the year.
The waters of the this bay experience what is called a seasonal upwelling, thanks to the trade winds that are blowing with such a strength, capable of blowing across the isthmus of Central America. Gusting from the Atlantic into the Pacific coast across the continental divide and low passes on the mountains, they have enough speed to reach the bay with enough power to blow the warm sterile water of the surface. This action will replace the warm waters with cold ones from the bottom nutrient rich. As soon as it gets to the surface where the intense sun rays are, the upwelling is triggered, and there is a booming of plankton that attracts small fish that will feed on the plankton and some larger fish to feed in the small ones. This food chain begins and with it the nesting of the sea birds that we saw today.
Quite a morning but our visit to Isla Iguana in the afternoon didn’t stay behind. Right at our landing, we were welcomed by land crabs spawning right at the beach. For the bird lovers, this island happened to be a nesting colony to frigatebirds, and we got to see them much closer during a walk this time. To close the day, we saw two scarlet tanagers in full breading plumage on their way north for nesting.
