Barro Colorado Island, Pedro Miguel & Miraflores Locks, Panama
After an evening crossing the Caribbean set of locks, the Sea Voyager dropped anchor in front of one of the most studied rain forest in the world, Barro Colorado Island (BCI). BCI was at the top of a hill on the Caribbean side of Panama and became an island as the Chagres River was dammed to create the Gatun Lake. This lake is the source of fresh water, and on average has 40 transits that happen every day in the Panama Canal.
For the first day of our trip through two of the most diverse countries in the world, the visit to BCI will be an eye opening experience, especially because the term rain forest has become so popular in the common parlance, but a great majority of people have not been truly and fully through one of them.
Today all our guests were up close and personal, walking through a dense vegetation forest, with over 120ft towering trees, vines with the diameter of trees and layers upon layers of different leaves that let just 3% of light finally touch the bottom floor.
As we were making our way deeper in the forest, it started to become alive. A troop of howler monkeys delighted us with their acrobatic skills, as they hung, swung and ate above our heads. Beyond the different mammals we saw, today was a great bird spotting day as well. We saw a juvenile Forest Falcon, a bright red chest Slaty-tailed Trogon, a stoning iridescent blue color Red-legged honey creeper and, as if that were not enough, a Red capped Manakin, a kind of gigolo from the rain forest, who dance for the females to get chosen by one of them.
That was just the morning experience, but ahead of us still was the second half of our transit through the Panama Canal, which in terms of wonders is definitely one of them. It is amazing how something like that was built almost a hundred years ago, yet still works as precisely as a Swiss watch.
Today we experienced a great combination between human wonders as we crossed the Panama Canal and then Mother Nature’s premiere wonder; the rain forest. This is more than just a lush green garden but a tri-dimensional picture where just by taking the time to explore its heart it become alive. The remarkable complexity of this tropical ecosystem provides the perfect entangled structure for millions of organisms to relate to each other.
Never does nature seem richer than in the tropics.
After an evening crossing the Caribbean set of locks, the Sea Voyager dropped anchor in front of one of the most studied rain forest in the world, Barro Colorado Island (BCI). BCI was at the top of a hill on the Caribbean side of Panama and became an island as the Chagres River was dammed to create the Gatun Lake. This lake is the source of fresh water, and on average has 40 transits that happen every day in the Panama Canal.
For the first day of our trip through two of the most diverse countries in the world, the visit to BCI will be an eye opening experience, especially because the term rain forest has become so popular in the common parlance, but a great majority of people have not been truly and fully through one of them.
Today all our guests were up close and personal, walking through a dense vegetation forest, with over 120ft towering trees, vines with the diameter of trees and layers upon layers of different leaves that let just 3% of light finally touch the bottom floor.
As we were making our way deeper in the forest, it started to become alive. A troop of howler monkeys delighted us with their acrobatic skills, as they hung, swung and ate above our heads. Beyond the different mammals we saw, today was a great bird spotting day as well. We saw a juvenile Forest Falcon, a bright red chest Slaty-tailed Trogon, a stoning iridescent blue color Red-legged honey creeper and, as if that were not enough, a Red capped Manakin, a kind of gigolo from the rain forest, who dance for the females to get chosen by one of them.
That was just the morning experience, but ahead of us still was the second half of our transit through the Panama Canal, which in terms of wonders is definitely one of them. It is amazing how something like that was built almost a hundred years ago, yet still works as precisely as a Swiss watch.
Today we experienced a great combination between human wonders as we crossed the Panama Canal and then Mother Nature’s premiere wonder; the rain forest. This is more than just a lush green garden but a tri-dimensional picture where just by taking the time to explore its heart it become alive. The remarkable complexity of this tropical ecosystem provides the perfect entangled structure for millions of organisms to relate to each other.
Never does nature seem richer than in the tropics.
