Bona and Otoque Islands, Bay of Panama
Today the morning found us anchored off the Islands of Otoque and Bona in the Bay of Panama, to begin with the second day of our trip. This bay is famous for its rich waters, filled with nutrients due to upwelling. This upwelling is produced by strong trade winds blowing across the Panamanian low lands, removing all the warm sterile water, which is replaced by upwelling of underlying colder water. This water is denser and very rich in nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous giving chance to phytoplankton to rise rapidly. In time, it will provide food to zooplankton to be eaten by small predators like anchovies, and the large food chain in the ocean waters begin.
Well, today we experienced these rich waters. In the morning, right after breakfast, we took a Zodiac ride around the islands to see the large community of sea birds that feed on the abundance fish supported by the upwelling. Among them are brown boobys, blue-footed boobys, neotropical cormorants, brown pelicans and one of the most striking birds, the magnificent frigatebirds. The males of this species were showing off their red gular pouch in full grandeur, inflated like red balloons they are trying to attract females. To our great surprise, we were joined by a group of Pantropical spotted dolphins, that taking advantage of our Zodiac to hitch a bow ride.
Later in the day, on board the Sea Voyager, while cruising towards Coiba, our first mate spotted a feeding frenzy in which we saw sandwich terns, Franklin’s gulls, black tuna, and bottle nose dolphins, in a yet more fantastic display of the relationships that go on in Poseidon’s realm.
Today the morning found us anchored off the Islands of Otoque and Bona in the Bay of Panama, to begin with the second day of our trip. This bay is famous for its rich waters, filled with nutrients due to upwelling. This upwelling is produced by strong trade winds blowing across the Panamanian low lands, removing all the warm sterile water, which is replaced by upwelling of underlying colder water. This water is denser and very rich in nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous giving chance to phytoplankton to rise rapidly. In time, it will provide food to zooplankton to be eaten by small predators like anchovies, and the large food chain in the ocean waters begin.
Well, today we experienced these rich waters. In the morning, right after breakfast, we took a Zodiac ride around the islands to see the large community of sea birds that feed on the abundance fish supported by the upwelling. Among them are brown boobys, blue-footed boobys, neotropical cormorants, brown pelicans and one of the most striking birds, the magnificent frigatebirds. The males of this species were showing off their red gular pouch in full grandeur, inflated like red balloons they are trying to attract females. To our great surprise, we were joined by a group of Pantropical spotted dolphins, that taking advantage of our Zodiac to hitch a bow ride.
Later in the day, on board the Sea Voyager, while cruising towards Coiba, our first mate spotted a feeding frenzy in which we saw sandwich terns, Franklin’s gulls, black tuna, and bottle nose dolphins, in a yet more fantastic display of the relationships that go on in Poseidon’s realm.
