After a late night traveling through the Panama Canal, we awoke to a gently rocking ship and a beautiful sunrise. A group of dedicated “stretchers” joined me on the sundeck for light exercise and smoothies. We all enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and had our first photo talk with Jose before we headed ashore.
We spent the day on Isla Iguana where we had some unique conditions that helped make our visit especially perfect—the high tide allowed us to explore the shallow reef and the North trade winds created an upwelling that brought refreshingly cool water! We saw many fish including parrot fish, puffers, and angel fish as well as a curious jewel moray eel that made a special appearance.
Isla Iguana is an important nesting area for the magnificent frigate bird. The island was full of soaring birds taking advantage of the winds. These birds are built for flying and with very little effort they coasted over our heads looking prehistoric with their angled wings and forked tails silhouetted against the blue sky. We saw many juvenile birds still sporting their bright white feathers and the mature males impressed more than just female birds with those vivid red gular pouches!
Another abundant resident of the island is the hermit crab. The ground was positively alive with crabs! They even found their way away from the sands of the shore and into the interior of the island where the dry leaves rattled under their crabby claws.
Of course, a trip to Isla Iguana would not be complete without seeing some big lizards and a few of the resident iguanas were very cooperative about posing for photos.
Panama was very good to us today…let’s hope those north trade winds rock us all gently to sleep tonight so we can be bright eyed for tomorrow’s adventures!
