Bona Island & Isla Iguana Wildlife Refuge
The Bay of Panama has one of the richest concentrations of bird colonies in the Eastern Pacific, the Central American Pacific Coast. Today the Sea Voyager began the day visiting the pristine Island of Boná. A quintessential and isolated island surrounded by deep rich water that provides food for brown pelicans, brown boobies, blue-footed boobies, magnificent frigatebirds, herons, cormorants and many other marine birds who happen to live in the vicinity.
The strong Trade Wind that blows over the Isthmus of Panama carry away the sun warmed waters of the Bay. This water is replaced with water from the bottom of the bay which comes with nutrients and at lower temperature which result in a higher oxygen concentration. This combination of high nutrients, oxygen in the water and a lot of sunlight, triggers a high productivity of food chain. This food chain includes creatures that are as small as copepods and as large as Bryde’s Whales.
During the afternoon and after sailing 60 nautical miles to the west, we visited another Island: Isla Iguana. Despite having been a shooting target for bombardiers during WWII, Isla Iguana bursts life: thousands of frigatebirds and many thousands of hermit crabs.
The coral reef platforms that surround the island are famous for their fast recovery after every “El Niño” phenomenon. During “El Niño” events, hot currents suffocate the symbiotic algae that live in the coral polyps, causing what is known as coral bleaching. Also the fisheries diminish and the amount of fish to sustain the bird colonies will drops, carrying the colonies to hard times. On the other hand, the mangrove warbler is one of the few bird species that occupy the island surviving on the few insects and the little fruit that some trees produce.
In Isla Iguana we also saw how much the decision of the community could be critical for the preservation of some habitats. The fishermen communities around the island requested a protection status for Isla Iguana in order to ensure the survival of their source of wealth: fish. Today the original plan is taking a new twist now that those fishermen are using their boats to visit the island, do sport fishing, whale watching and provide for their families using natural resources in a more sustainable way.
These two islands and the breathtaking sunset made a spectacular introduction to the greatest of all of the islands off the Pacific coast in Central America: Coiba, which we will visit tomorrow.
The Bay of Panama has one of the richest concentrations of bird colonies in the Eastern Pacific, the Central American Pacific Coast. Today the Sea Voyager began the day visiting the pristine Island of Boná. A quintessential and isolated island surrounded by deep rich water that provides food for brown pelicans, brown boobies, blue-footed boobies, magnificent frigatebirds, herons, cormorants and many other marine birds who happen to live in the vicinity.
The strong Trade Wind that blows over the Isthmus of Panama carry away the sun warmed waters of the Bay. This water is replaced with water from the bottom of the bay which comes with nutrients and at lower temperature which result in a higher oxygen concentration. This combination of high nutrients, oxygen in the water and a lot of sunlight, triggers a high productivity of food chain. This food chain includes creatures that are as small as copepods and as large as Bryde’s Whales.
During the afternoon and after sailing 60 nautical miles to the west, we visited another Island: Isla Iguana. Despite having been a shooting target for bombardiers during WWII, Isla Iguana bursts life: thousands of frigatebirds and many thousands of hermit crabs.
The coral reef platforms that surround the island are famous for their fast recovery after every “El Niño” phenomenon. During “El Niño” events, hot currents suffocate the symbiotic algae that live in the coral polyps, causing what is known as coral bleaching. Also the fisheries diminish and the amount of fish to sustain the bird colonies will drops, carrying the colonies to hard times. On the other hand, the mangrove warbler is one of the few bird species that occupy the island surviving on the few insects and the little fruit that some trees produce.
In Isla Iguana we also saw how much the decision of the community could be critical for the preservation of some habitats. The fishermen communities around the island requested a protection status for Isla Iguana in order to ensure the survival of their source of wealth: fish. Today the original plan is taking a new twist now that those fishermen are using their boats to visit the island, do sport fishing, whale watching and provide for their families using natural resources in a more sustainable way.
These two islands and the breathtaking sunset made a spectacular introduction to the greatest of all of the islands off the Pacific coast in Central America: Coiba, which we will visit tomorrow.
