Coiba Island National Park
A wonderful sunrise received us, after sailing through the night, in front of one of the most beautiful and interesting places along the Pacific Coast of Panama: ½ Granito de Oro½, a little islet included in a great National Park known as Coiba, which has an extension of about 227,000 hectares with only 52,000 hectares of mainland and the rest of it is marine area. It was the most feared of Panama’s penal colonies for many years. Nowadays the prison camps are not there any more, and the prisoners have been relocated in different jails in Panama. Because of this the island has not recieved any environmental impact and is very pristine. Its waters holds the second biggest coral reef of the Eastern Pacific. Because of the importance of this coral reef several private conservation organizations are joining efforts to create a marine corridor that will connect Coiba Island with other islands of the Pacific such as Cocos Island, Malpelo Island and Galapagos Islands.
So after the stretching exercises, leaded by our Wellness Specialist and Spa Therapist, Ines, and a delicious breakfast, we took to the Zodiacs to Granito de Oro, where the hermit crabs were fighting for empty shells to live in and the amazing contrast of the white sand beach and the blue and green colors of the ocean left us astonished and made us think that it was the closest to paradise we could be. We had the opportunity to record in the deepest of our memories the most beautiful images of the marine fauna of the Park: White tip reef sharks, Moorish Idols, Crevalle Jacks, Green Parrot fish, Green Morays, Guinea Fowl Puffers Fish, Giant Damselfish, Reef Cornet fish, Green sea turtles, Hawksbill sea turtles, lots of corals and barracudas and many more colorful fish. And also one of our naturalists got to see a Hammer head shark, amazing!!
We got the chance to paddle around the islet and some of the kayakers had still energy enough to go from Granito de Oro to the ranger station of the Coiba National Park. Once the ship arrived at the ranger station, the crew brought us lunch and after the wonderful roofed picnic, some of us went for bird watching, some swimming, others snorkeling, playing frizzbie, watching a soccer game, or some just reading a really good book sitting "on chair in paradise".
Back on the Sea Voyager, we started sailing north, and luckily we got the last two gifts of Panama: Pantropical spotted dolphins swimming along with us and an amazing sunset that came to say "Buen viaje".
A wonderful sunrise received us, after sailing through the night, in front of one of the most beautiful and interesting places along the Pacific Coast of Panama: ½ Granito de Oro½, a little islet included in a great National Park known as Coiba, which has an extension of about 227,000 hectares with only 52,000 hectares of mainland and the rest of it is marine area. It was the most feared of Panama’s penal colonies for many years. Nowadays the prison camps are not there any more, and the prisoners have been relocated in different jails in Panama. Because of this the island has not recieved any environmental impact and is very pristine. Its waters holds the second biggest coral reef of the Eastern Pacific. Because of the importance of this coral reef several private conservation organizations are joining efforts to create a marine corridor that will connect Coiba Island with other islands of the Pacific such as Cocos Island, Malpelo Island and Galapagos Islands.
So after the stretching exercises, leaded by our Wellness Specialist and Spa Therapist, Ines, and a delicious breakfast, we took to the Zodiacs to Granito de Oro, where the hermit crabs were fighting for empty shells to live in and the amazing contrast of the white sand beach and the blue and green colors of the ocean left us astonished and made us think that it was the closest to paradise we could be. We had the opportunity to record in the deepest of our memories the most beautiful images of the marine fauna of the Park: White tip reef sharks, Moorish Idols, Crevalle Jacks, Green Parrot fish, Green Morays, Guinea Fowl Puffers Fish, Giant Damselfish, Reef Cornet fish, Green sea turtles, Hawksbill sea turtles, lots of corals and barracudas and many more colorful fish. And also one of our naturalists got to see a Hammer head shark, amazing!!
We got the chance to paddle around the islet and some of the kayakers had still energy enough to go from Granito de Oro to the ranger station of the Coiba National Park. Once the ship arrived at the ranger station, the crew brought us lunch and after the wonderful roofed picnic, some of us went for bird watching, some swimming, others snorkeling, playing frizzbie, watching a soccer game, or some just reading a really good book sitting "on chair in paradise".
Back on the Sea Voyager, we started sailing north, and luckily we got the last two gifts of Panama: Pantropical spotted dolphins swimming along with us and an amazing sunset that came to say "Buen viaje".
