After finishing the transit of Gatun Locks, National Geographic Sea Lion repositioned towards the iconic Barro Colorado Island (BCI). This island was formed by the flooding of Chagres River basin during the canal construction in the 1900s. Once the Gatun Dam was built, many mountains and hills became islands overnight. Barro Colorado is one of several Smithsonian research centers throughout Panama. BCI will be 100 years old very soon and we all felt like part of the celebration. Our morning started with the visit of Ana Yancy, one of the most knowledgeable staff members who works permanently on this island.
Our first group of guests was ready to debark soon after Ana concluded her fascinating description on board the ship. Very shortly, all our fearless walkers were assigned an expert BCI guide who immediately started unveiling the mysteries of the tropical rain forest for an extremely committed group.
Quite a few different species of tropical life began coming out of the forest to be observed by our fascinated guests. Crested guans, keel-billed toucan and ant-shrikes were carefully admired by our walkers. In the meantime, and on a different section of the island, our Zodiac riders also enjoyed different forms of wildlife such as sloths and crocodiles at the shoreline. At some point, when a couple groups of guests crossed on a trail, it was very entertaining to hear each party talking about what they had discovered so far! A very warm and pleasant tropical rain brought the cool breeze which was mostly appreciated by everyone on the trails.
After leaving BCI, Sea Lion quickly commenced the remaining transit over the second set of locks in Pedro Miguel and Miraflores. On our way through Culebra Cut, many of our surprised guests enjoyed the view of some magnificent crocodiles sharing the Panama Canal with our ship. All too soon it was “ceviche time” up on the sun deck and all our guests had the opportunity to enjoy some of this superb traditional Panamanian and Costa Rican dish. Obviously, the ceviche had to be accompanied by some colorful cocktails which were elegantly served by our barman on duty!
Sea Lion completed her transit successfully and we were once again free to go sailing. This time, our next destination will be in the Pacific Ocean, in the midst of Gulf of Panama. Amusing conversations were taking place around the sundeck as sunset quietly decorated the seas in gold and blue. The magnificent frigatebirds, brown pelicans and gulls escorted our vessel on its way out towards the next expedition day.
