Barro Colorado Island & Gatun Locks, Panama
This morning we continued our trip to Barro Colorado Island (BCI). At sunrise we enjoyed the mystic fog of the rainforest. After the mist had cleared we found our way through the Galliard’s cut in broad daylight. A few crocodiles seemed to be guarding our passage; we have to consider ourselves very lucky, because we are the only marine vessel that is allowed to split its transit in two days to visit BCI.
Barro Colorado is an island in the Panama Canal Zone, lying midway between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea (9¢ª 09’N, 79¢ª 51’W) At about 15.6 km² (6 square miles) , BCI is the largest island in Gatun Lake, the lake formed between 1911 and 1914 by the damming of the Chagres River to form the Canal. Gatun Lake, by far the largest expanse of water in the Canal, covers 420km² (164 square miles) at an elevation of about 25m (85 feet) above sea level. The ship channel traversing the lake passes along the eastern and the northeastern shores of BCI.
BCI was set aside as a biological preserve in 1923 and is currently supervised by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, which operates a modern field station and Laboratory Clearing, on the northeast shore.
After visiting the gift shop, we had a refreshing rain on our way to the Zodiac. We continued our way to the Gatun Locks through the Banana canal that was used by Banana ships in the older days. That gave us the opportunity to look for wildlife, as we passed through a narrow path between some islands.
We started our descent to the Caribbean Sea in the Gatun Locks before our farewell dinner. We finished our trip at the Port of Colon and with that we closed a memorable week aboard the Sea Voyager.
This morning we continued our trip to Barro Colorado Island (BCI). At sunrise we enjoyed the mystic fog of the rainforest. After the mist had cleared we found our way through the Galliard’s cut in broad daylight. A few crocodiles seemed to be guarding our passage; we have to consider ourselves very lucky, because we are the only marine vessel that is allowed to split its transit in two days to visit BCI.
Barro Colorado is an island in the Panama Canal Zone, lying midway between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea (9¢ª 09’N, 79¢ª 51’W) At about 15.6 km² (6 square miles) , BCI is the largest island in Gatun Lake, the lake formed between 1911 and 1914 by the damming of the Chagres River to form the Canal. Gatun Lake, by far the largest expanse of water in the Canal, covers 420km² (164 square miles) at an elevation of about 25m (85 feet) above sea level. The ship channel traversing the lake passes along the eastern and the northeastern shores of BCI.
BCI was set aside as a biological preserve in 1923 and is currently supervised by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, which operates a modern field station and Laboratory Clearing, on the northeast shore.
After visiting the gift shop, we had a refreshing rain on our way to the Zodiac. We continued our way to the Gatun Locks through the Banana canal that was used by Banana ships in the older days. That gave us the opportunity to look for wildlife, as we passed through a narrow path between some islands.
We started our descent to the Caribbean Sea in the Gatun Locks before our farewell dinner. We finished our trip at the Port of Colon and with that we closed a memorable week aboard the Sea Voyager.
