Granito de Oro, Coiba Island National Park, Panama

A colorful sunrise lit our way to the ranger station for an early bird watching opportunity. The Coiba agouti walked around the gardens. This endemic species shares a common ancestor with the Central American agouti. As in this case, geographical isolation has played an important role in speciation. Coiba holds several species of endemics. The crimson backed tanager, yellow faced grassquit and garden emerald are some of the spectacular, yet regular birds that one can encounter at the island.

Soon the early risers caught up with the ship for breakfast and then we went to Granito de Oro. This small island hides an impressive and extensive under water world of coral reefs. The yellow tail surgeonfish invade the marine farming areas pruned and protected by the giant damselfish. The blue crevalle jacks and the white tipped reef sharks seemed to rule among the rocks as they are constantly scouting for food. The guineafowl puffers did not seem too worried about them, since they are well protected by their own toxicity. The clear water allowed wonderful sightings of sharks and hawksbill turtles in their constant search for anemones.

We returned to the ship for a nice barbeque lunch in the lounge. The afternoon was spent at sea, where we saw sea turtles, pantropical spotted dolphins and over a dozen yellow bellied sea snake. Brown boobies, black terns, brown noodies and laughing gulls made our navigation a great experience.

It was only our first day in Panama and we can not wait to reach the Gulf of Panama to visit the sea bird colony of Bona and Otoque.