Coiba Island National Park
The Sea Voyager dropped anchor off a little islet known as Granito de Oro, close to Coiba Island. We had sailed through the night from Costa Rica, eager to arrive at this new UNESCO declared World Heritage Site. Before being declared a National Park, Coiba used to be a penal colony. In 2004, the prisoners were relocated to different local prisons around Panama. Thanks to this, over the years Coiba had been preserved from development, allowing the forest and its surrounding islands to be kept pristine.
Today this park gathers an extension of 271,000 hectares in which 20 % is main land and all the rest is marine area. Coiba is part of a marine corridor that connects other marine parks of the Eastern Pacific. In its waters, Coiba has the second biggest coral reef of this marine area.
Having all this in mind, we grabbed our snorkeling gear and went ashore to explore the area. We were greeted by a huge group of hermit crabs, responsible for cleaning the islet of any left over organic material. Surrounding the islet, a lovely coral reef was waiting for us, so we went to explore it. A variety of hard corrals proved the area to be a paradise for different reef fish. It was a parade of colors: Morish idols, King angel fish, white tipped sharks, rainbow wrasses, and bi colored parrot fish were some of the species that duel among this lovely paradise.
Our desire was to stay here forever, but our journey had to continue. There are more places to go and explore during our trip. So back on board, we weighed anchor and started sailing towards the bay of Panama. It had been an extraordinary welcome to Panama.
The Sea Voyager dropped anchor off a little islet known as Granito de Oro, close to Coiba Island. We had sailed through the night from Costa Rica, eager to arrive at this new UNESCO declared World Heritage Site. Before being declared a National Park, Coiba used to be a penal colony. In 2004, the prisoners were relocated to different local prisons around Panama. Thanks to this, over the years Coiba had been preserved from development, allowing the forest and its surrounding islands to be kept pristine.
Today this park gathers an extension of 271,000 hectares in which 20 % is main land and all the rest is marine area. Coiba is part of a marine corridor that connects other marine parks of the Eastern Pacific. In its waters, Coiba has the second biggest coral reef of this marine area.
Having all this in mind, we grabbed our snorkeling gear and went ashore to explore the area. We were greeted by a huge group of hermit crabs, responsible for cleaning the islet of any left over organic material. Surrounding the islet, a lovely coral reef was waiting for us, so we went to explore it. A variety of hard corrals proved the area to be a paradise for different reef fish. It was a parade of colors: Morish idols, King angel fish, white tipped sharks, rainbow wrasses, and bi colored parrot fish were some of the species that duel among this lovely paradise.
Our desire was to stay here forever, but our journey had to continue. There are more places to go and explore during our trip. So back on board, we weighed anchor and started sailing towards the bay of Panama. It had been an extraordinary welcome to Panama.
