Otoque & Bona Islands and Isla Iguana Wildlife Refuge
We spent the night anchored next to a nice island known as Otoque, in the Bay of Panama. Soon the sunrise revealed to us that this area was “controlled” by a diverse colony of sea birds. The bay is an area where the tradewinds blow the warm surface waters, allowing the cold waters from the bottom to rise, creating an upwelling. This cold water is loaded with nutrients! This means that there is plenty of food and it is very common to see massive feeding frenzies on their surface.
Taking this as a tip, we took an early riser's Zodiac cruise to explore the surrounding island. To our surprise, there was a big shadow on the water! The source was birds with giant wingspans soaring way up high. As we approached Bona Island it was easy for us to appreciate what kind of sea birds they were: brown pelicans in their breeding plumage, others making their nests and others just perched on trees. Being the only species of pelicans that plunge dive for their meal, they tend to loose their ability to hunt since they also begin to loose their eyesight. As we were enjoying this interesting scenery, a black bird with a large wingspan got close to the pelican colony and began to harass the pelicans that were having lunch! This black bird was none other than a magnificent frigate bird. Though they are not provided with waterproof feathers, they have developed a way to get their food by harassing other sea birds that can swim and dive to get their own food. This thievery is better known as kleptoparasitism! We could appreciate brown boobies, blue-footed boobies and pelicans plunge diving for their food and later being harassed by the frigatebirds. What an early show!
Back on board, we weighed anchor and sailed towards Isla Iguana Wildlife refuge. This refuge is also known for its large colony of frigate birds and is the perfect place to have a nice try at our snorkeling gear. It was an excellent experience since we could appreciate how the male frigate bird, after making the nest, would inflate its red gular pouch in order to advertise himself to the females.
The snorkeling was great! We could have stopped the trip here, but had to return to the Sea Voyager. A total of 80 nautical miles had to be covered in order to reach our next destination: Coiba Island. What a great experience on the wild side of Panama!
We spent the night anchored next to a nice island known as Otoque, in the Bay of Panama. Soon the sunrise revealed to us that this area was “controlled” by a diverse colony of sea birds. The bay is an area where the tradewinds blow the warm surface waters, allowing the cold waters from the bottom to rise, creating an upwelling. This cold water is loaded with nutrients! This means that there is plenty of food and it is very common to see massive feeding frenzies on their surface.
Taking this as a tip, we took an early riser's Zodiac cruise to explore the surrounding island. To our surprise, there was a big shadow on the water! The source was birds with giant wingspans soaring way up high. As we approached Bona Island it was easy for us to appreciate what kind of sea birds they were: brown pelicans in their breeding plumage, others making their nests and others just perched on trees. Being the only species of pelicans that plunge dive for their meal, they tend to loose their ability to hunt since they also begin to loose their eyesight. As we were enjoying this interesting scenery, a black bird with a large wingspan got close to the pelican colony and began to harass the pelicans that were having lunch! This black bird was none other than a magnificent frigate bird. Though they are not provided with waterproof feathers, they have developed a way to get their food by harassing other sea birds that can swim and dive to get their own food. This thievery is better known as kleptoparasitism! We could appreciate brown boobies, blue-footed boobies and pelicans plunge diving for their food and later being harassed by the frigatebirds. What an early show!
Back on board, we weighed anchor and sailed towards Isla Iguana Wildlife refuge. This refuge is also known for its large colony of frigate birds and is the perfect place to have a nice try at our snorkeling gear. It was an excellent experience since we could appreciate how the male frigate bird, after making the nest, would inflate its red gular pouch in order to advertise himself to the females.
The snorkeling was great! We could have stopped the trip here, but had to return to the Sea Voyager. A total of 80 nautical miles had to be covered in order to reach our next destination: Coiba Island. What a great experience on the wild side of Panama!
