Barro Colorado Island and Panama Canal, Panama

Tropical rainforests have wide appeal. They have fascinated scientists, artists, and writers for many years. The New World tropics with their richness in shape, color, and discreetly perfumed orchids, undescribed insect species, furry arboreal monkeys, spotted cats, colorful macaws, and many species of fishes in fresh and sea waters, attract countless numbers of researchers. Today, throughout the world, many biology students sacrifice their comfort, income, family, and even social life, to work and learn and eventually teach others like us, about these forests. Barro Colorado Island (BCI), which is administered by the Smithsonian Research Institute, is every tropical researcher’s dream. Created by the flooding of the Chagres River to form the Gatun Lake, BCI was set aside for biological research by the Canal Zone government in 1923. This morning, for the first time after many years of trying, we were allowed and welcomed onto the island and were guided through its trails and shoreline by some of the students and assistants working on the island. We were rewarded with sightings of white-throated capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, toucans, white tailed deer, iguans, agoutis, snail kites, and even a tamandua anteater.

And later, this afternoon, on again with the “the path between the seas”. We began our Canal transit last night, right after our arrival on the ship. We barely had time to recover and breathe after our flight into Panama, but that didn’t deter most of us. Our pilot arrived and we began crossing the set of locks on the Pacific side, Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks. We spent the night anchored in the vicinity of the Gatun Yacht Cluib and repositioned early this morning towards the Island of Barro Colorado. After our visit, we were to cross the second set of locks, the ones on the Caribbean side, the Gatun Locks. At 5:00 p.m. we entered the locks. We watched as our companion for the canal crossing, the ship called Marco Polo, tried to get lined up inside the channel. Six mules, a tugboat, and a small rowboat accompanied the Marco Polo inside the lock. We tagged along behind the huge ship. Aren’t you glad you are traveling on a small one!