Barro Colorado Island & Panama Canal
After arriving at the dock in the city of Colon, we came aboard the Sea Voyager and started to navigate to the Gatun Locks in the evening. We spent the night in Gatun Lake and finally dropped anchor in front of Barro Colorado Island. BCI is one of the most important tropical rain forest research plots in the world.
This natural monument was created as the Chagres River was dammed to form the Gatun Lake, which is the major source of water for the Panama Canal and keeps it running. All the hilltops became forested islands, and Barro Colorado is the largest one, covering 3865 acres, the reason why it was chosen to become a biological reserve.
In 1946, the island went under the administration of the Smithsonian Institute and since then it has been a field study location for around 100 scientists a year. The Sea Voyager is the only boat that is allowed to interrupt its transit through the Panama Canal, giving us the incredible opportunity to walk through the trails of this research station.
The tropical rain forest is a perfect entangled society, where every element has its reason to be. Towering trees reach the canopy level around the 130 feet, turning the understory into a battle for the light. There are hundreds of different tree species that look very similar, straight woody trunks which extend their branches above the forest. These are used by several plants as a living latter, such as the philodendrons that are known tree climbers. Another very common lifestyle, is that of being an epiphyte, and for that matter the plants totally cut connection with the forest floor and become air plants.
We were very fortunate that not just this great assembly of lifestyles posed for us, but several kinds of animals came close to our view, too. Agoutis, bats, monkeys and many bird species amused us. After exploring this great creation of Mother Nature, we all came back on board and started the second half of our transit through the Canal. The sunset was the perfect frame to finish this very first day in the tropics.
After arriving at the dock in the city of Colon, we came aboard the Sea Voyager and started to navigate to the Gatun Locks in the evening. We spent the night in Gatun Lake and finally dropped anchor in front of Barro Colorado Island. BCI is one of the most important tropical rain forest research plots in the world.
This natural monument was created as the Chagres River was dammed to form the Gatun Lake, which is the major source of water for the Panama Canal and keeps it running. All the hilltops became forested islands, and Barro Colorado is the largest one, covering 3865 acres, the reason why it was chosen to become a biological reserve.
In 1946, the island went under the administration of the Smithsonian Institute and since then it has been a field study location for around 100 scientists a year. The Sea Voyager is the only boat that is allowed to interrupt its transit through the Panama Canal, giving us the incredible opportunity to walk through the trails of this research station.
The tropical rain forest is a perfect entangled society, where every element has its reason to be. Towering trees reach the canopy level around the 130 feet, turning the understory into a battle for the light. There are hundreds of different tree species that look very similar, straight woody trunks which extend their branches above the forest. These are used by several plants as a living latter, such as the philodendrons that are known tree climbers. Another very common lifestyle, is that of being an epiphyte, and for that matter the plants totally cut connection with the forest floor and become air plants.
We were very fortunate that not just this great assembly of lifestyles posed for us, but several kinds of animals came close to our view, too. Agoutis, bats, monkeys and many bird species amused us. After exploring this great creation of Mother Nature, we all came back on board and started the second half of our transit through the Canal. The sunset was the perfect frame to finish this very first day in the tropics.
