Isla Coiba National Park, Panama
Today we had an incredible morning in what is considered the third largest marine park in the world, only the Galapágos and the Great Barrier Reef are larger. Coiba National Park is not only one island; it is constituted of one large island of 194 square miles, plus 39 other satellite islands. It protects not only the marine ecosystem but also the pristine tropical forest on land. The fact that it is an island quite off of the mainland has helped with the conservation of its ecosystems, including the marine one. It was not only its isolation which helped protect the area’s habitats, it was also that the only residents of the island were the most dangerous criminals of the country of Panama. Yes, that is right this beautiful place was set as a prison colony from 1918 to 1991, this simple fact kept the island off the radar of developers, thus keeping it as pristine as we saw today.
Once the prison colony was closed, Coiba was declares a national park and now is one of the crucial parts of an international marine corridor (Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor) which includes the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador, Malpelo and Gorgona Islands of Colombia and Coco Island of Costa Rica, this in an effort to protect and save marine habitats.
Today we had what could be described as the most spectacular morning exploring one of the islets of the Park known as Granito de Oro (the little grain of gold). It was none other than the quintessential image of the Gary Larson’s “The Far Side” cartoons of marooned sailors, but proved to be the exact place where we wanted to be stranded: with great water conditions, a great place for snorkeling, kayaking or reading a book.
This morning went by going in and out of the warm water, looking at the fish associated with the reef and trying to identify them from the fish plates on the beach; enjoying the peaceful waters on a kayak going around the islet or just kicking back on a chair with a soft drink looking at the army of hermit crabs moving all around.
After our morning’s outing and back on board, we started cruising to make our way to the Panama Canal, on our longest repositioning of the trip covering 180 nautical miles. However, the excitement was not over thanks to groups of dolphins that joined us every now and then, a few sea turtles and a beautiful sunset.
