Coiba Island National Park
After sailing through the night, the Sea Voyager arrived to Panama’s newest protected area. This pristine jewel was revealed to us during a lovely sunrise. Crystal ocean waters surrounded our ship and the view of an untouched forest added a special treat to our eyes. It looked like paradise!
Early risers couldn’t sit still, so they went ashore before breakfast to explore what this place could offered. To their surprise, they were welcomed by a great diversity of birds. There is no better way to start a morning! But, what is this place and how has it managed to keep its forest pristine? Well, the answer called our attention. For many years, Panama’s most feared prisoners lived in Coiba Island. Since the year 1919, Coiba Island was used as a penal colony. It gathered 23 prisoner’s camps with a big population of inmates. As a prison colony, it kept visitors far away from it. Around the year 2004, Coiba was declared a national park and the prisoners were relocated to local jails around the country. Later UNESCO declared it a world heritage site. Coiba National Park has an extension of 270,125 hectares, and only 20% of that is mainland. The park includes a couple isles and islets, and the rest is marine area. In its waters you can find the second biggest coral reef of the Eastern Pacific. Coiba National Park is part of the regional initiative known as the Marine Conservation Corridor of the Tropical Eastern Pacific which includes Ecuador’s Galápagos National Park, Colombia’s Gorgona National Park and Malpelo National Park, Costa Rica’s Cocos Island National Park and Panama’s Coiba National Park. This corridor is an area of great ecological importance, extending approximately 211 million hectares, where coral and crustacean larvae, fish and other organisms are transported from site to site by marine currents, thereby supporting repopulation of the seas.
Right after breakfast, we went ashore with our snorkeling gear. We landed on a little islet known as Granito de Oro (little grain of gold). Hermit crabs decided to show up and tour us around this tiny islet. All geared up, we went to explore its surrounding waters. Like a parade, different species of fish swam in front of us. Moorish idols, reef cornet fish, white tipped sharks, guinea fowl puffers, and many others gave more colors to this paradise. What a morning! We understood why we had to protect this part of the world.
Back onboard, we repositioned the Sea Voyager in front of the ranger station for a delicious barbecue prepared by the galley. There’s no better way to enjoy a paradise like this. It was hard to say good bye to this place. Our last day in Panama was wonderful, but now we need to move on to our next destination of our trip: Costa Rica!
After sailing through the night, the Sea Voyager arrived to Panama’s newest protected area. This pristine jewel was revealed to us during a lovely sunrise. Crystal ocean waters surrounded our ship and the view of an untouched forest added a special treat to our eyes. It looked like paradise!
Early risers couldn’t sit still, so they went ashore before breakfast to explore what this place could offered. To their surprise, they were welcomed by a great diversity of birds. There is no better way to start a morning! But, what is this place and how has it managed to keep its forest pristine? Well, the answer called our attention. For many years, Panama’s most feared prisoners lived in Coiba Island. Since the year 1919, Coiba Island was used as a penal colony. It gathered 23 prisoner’s camps with a big population of inmates. As a prison colony, it kept visitors far away from it. Around the year 2004, Coiba was declared a national park and the prisoners were relocated to local jails around the country. Later UNESCO declared it a world heritage site. Coiba National Park has an extension of 270,125 hectares, and only 20% of that is mainland. The park includes a couple isles and islets, and the rest is marine area. In its waters you can find the second biggest coral reef of the Eastern Pacific. Coiba National Park is part of the regional initiative known as the Marine Conservation Corridor of the Tropical Eastern Pacific which includes Ecuador’s Galápagos National Park, Colombia’s Gorgona National Park and Malpelo National Park, Costa Rica’s Cocos Island National Park and Panama’s Coiba National Park. This corridor is an area of great ecological importance, extending approximately 211 million hectares, where coral and crustacean larvae, fish and other organisms are transported from site to site by marine currents, thereby supporting repopulation of the seas.
Right after breakfast, we went ashore with our snorkeling gear. We landed on a little islet known as Granito de Oro (little grain of gold). Hermit crabs decided to show up and tour us around this tiny islet. All geared up, we went to explore its surrounding waters. Like a parade, different species of fish swam in front of us. Moorish idols, reef cornet fish, white tipped sharks, guinea fowl puffers, and many others gave more colors to this paradise. What a morning! We understood why we had to protect this part of the world.
Back onboard, we repositioned the Sea Voyager in front of the ranger station for a delicious barbecue prepared by the galley. There’s no better way to enjoy a paradise like this. It was hard to say good bye to this place. Our last day in Panama was wonderful, but now we need to move on to our next destination of our trip: Costa Rica!
