Otoque/Bona Islands and Transit through Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks
The day started on board the Sea Voyager with a colorful sunrise and a flock of brown boobies leading the way to our first stop in Otoque and Bona Islands. We arrived at our destination in awe of the bursts of color of the purple poui trees (Tabebuia rosea) amongst the different shades of green of the vegetation of these islets located 22 miles from the bay of Panama City. We left by Zodiacs and kayaks to explore the area with thousands of flying birds around us.
Magnificent frigatebird adult males had inflated their pouches displaying conspicuous patches of bright red seen as they perched or in their gracious flight. Brown and blue-footed boobies flew round the tiny Estiva Islet, drawing imaginary circles and even nesting on bare ground with offspring colored downy white.
Some of us enjoyed the last snorkeling opportunity of the trip in these pristine waters, which though green are teeming with life. After lunch we enjoyed a lecture from our guest of honor George Goethals on the building of the Panama Canal. Questions were then postponed to a later date due to the presence of false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) surfacing around our ship, even breaching in front of us. The reaction of excitement everytime we were able to see their back (cape) and dorsal fin was noticeable with cries of exultation from our travelers. Evening cocktails were then held up on our skydeck in the Bay of Panama to the backdrop of a colorful sunset and a spectacular view of the skyline of Panama City.
After sunset we passed under the Bridge of the Americas and through Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks as the Panama Canal brought the most varied comments of admiration of this amazing work by thousands of people during the early 1900’s.We dropped anchor at Gatun lake at 90ft above sea level and waited for our new adventure.
The day started on board the Sea Voyager with a colorful sunrise and a flock of brown boobies leading the way to our first stop in Otoque and Bona Islands. We arrived at our destination in awe of the bursts of color of the purple poui trees (Tabebuia rosea) amongst the different shades of green of the vegetation of these islets located 22 miles from the bay of Panama City. We left by Zodiacs and kayaks to explore the area with thousands of flying birds around us.
Magnificent frigatebird adult males had inflated their pouches displaying conspicuous patches of bright red seen as they perched or in their gracious flight. Brown and blue-footed boobies flew round the tiny Estiva Islet, drawing imaginary circles and even nesting on bare ground with offspring colored downy white.
Some of us enjoyed the last snorkeling opportunity of the trip in these pristine waters, which though green are teeming with life. After lunch we enjoyed a lecture from our guest of honor George Goethals on the building of the Panama Canal. Questions were then postponed to a later date due to the presence of false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) surfacing around our ship, even breaching in front of us. The reaction of excitement everytime we were able to see their back (cape) and dorsal fin was noticeable with cries of exultation from our travelers. Evening cocktails were then held up on our skydeck in the Bay of Panama to the backdrop of a colorful sunset and a spectacular view of the skyline of Panama City.
After sunset we passed under the Bridge of the Americas and through Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks as the Panama Canal brought the most varied comments of admiration of this amazing work by thousands of people during the early 1900’s.We dropped anchor at Gatun lake at 90ft above sea level and waited for our new adventure.
