Barro Colorado Island, Panama
This morning found the National Geographic Sea Lion anchored at Gatun Lake a privilege that no other ship or guests have. This special treat would enable us to visit a scientist’s sanctuary, Barro Colorado Island (BCI). The site is a research center which was created after the Panama Canal construction took place in order to preserve the natural resources surrounding the Canal. Hundreds of investigations on tropical flora and fauna have taken place at this site and have helped understand animal and plant characteristics and behaviors.
We had three options to explore this marvelous rain forest. Some of us picked Zodiac rides around the island, other people chose a long hike and the third group chose a shorter one. We all had the chance to talk to some of the BCI people who shared with us their knowledge about what is being and what has been done at this location to understand the biology of this part of the world. Agoutis, howler monkeys, chestnut mandible toucans, snail kite, American crocodile, among many other species of wildlife were spotted throughout our different activities.
Due to our stop at BCI we ran into another privilege saved exclusively for our Lindblad/National Geographic Expeditions: to do the Canal crossing in two days. Every single other ship in the world coming through this magnificent engineering master piece, has to do the transit straight from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, but not us. Yesterday we got to see the Canal during the evening and night and today we were able to enjoy the transit during daylight, a very different perspective. It is amazing to imagine the hard work done by the builders over a century ago, and the challenges that they had to face due to all the technological limitations that they had at the time. Their effort ended in a spectacular engineering marvel that today, still represents one of the most important in the world.
Today we had an even more exciting wildlife sighting; we got to see capybaras foraging on the side of the Canal. We could see the largest rodent of the Americas, a species that has it northernmost limit right in Panama. After our transit, our expedition finished with a lecture about Natural Hazards and our farewell cocktail. We all went to bed with the hopes of seeing each other again on another expedition.
