Coiba National Park - Panama
For our last day in the Republic of Panama we picked Coiba National Park.
It is a special place for many reasons. To start is the second largest island off the Pacific coast and probably the one with the most pristine tropical forest. The government of Panama formerly used it as a Devil’s Island or Alcatraz, where they would send the most dangerous criminals. This island also worked as a penal colony since 1919 preserving its tropical rain forest with very little disturbance. If that is not enough to make this island interesting to visit and explore, it is also part of the most rich and diverse marine corridors we know in the Eastern Pacific Ocean; made up of the Galápagos, Malpelo & Gorgona, Cocos and Coiba Islands. In 1991 Coiba was declared a National Park, and a program for relocating its prisoners and closing the penal colony was initiated. In 2005 this park was declare a World Heritage site by the Unesco making it important for all humanity.
Today we had a sample of both worlds (on and off land) protected by this island. First, the underwater world, we went to a little islet called Granito de Oro, literally translated as grain of gold, where we did some kayaking and snorkeling. At noon the ship was reposition to the ranger station on the main island for a nice beach BBQ lunch and some time to relaxing, followed by some more snorkeling, kayaking and birding.
This is the closest you can get to a tropical paradise as far as I know.
To see video footage from today's expedition, click here.
