Boná, Otoque and Iguana Islands, Panama
After a calm night anchored just outside of the Panama Canal on the Pacific coast, we lifted anchor and headed west towards the islands of Boná, Estivá and Otoque. These three islands are located in the Gulf of Panama, in an area of prevailing winds that push away the surface waters; followed by an upwelling which raises colder nutrient rich waters up to the surface, bringing along large amounts of fish.
These conditions provide a paradise for fish depending birds. Important colonies of magnificent frigate birds, brown and blue-footed boobies and brown pelicans inhabit these islands and play such a spectacular performance. It is a must to explore as it is close to our transit route. Our two rounds of Zodiac cruises allowed us to witness varied behaviors, like the kleptoparasitism. Practiced by the frigate birds to avoid diving, as they would have a hard time taking off from the water; frigates let other birds do the hard labor of catching fish and come along and steal it from the other species. We also got to see other species like the belted kingfisher, yellow crowned night heron and zone tailed hawk.
It was impressive to see flora in bloom, including the pink poui trees and plumerias, among other interesting trees like burseras and ficus. They were a great contrast with the deciduous species present in the area. After an easy enjoyable morning, we returned to the National Geographic Sea Lion and continued our sail towards Iguana Island. During this navigation, we had our first sighting of Pantropical spotted dolphins, which followed us for a while and allowed us to get nice shots, both with our eyes and cameras, of them.
Once we arrived, we had a great afternoon exploring a short trail around this pristine white sand island. We were able to get a close up to another large colony of magnificent frigate birds in their nests and explore the great volcanic rock formations by the coast line.
Our day finished with the first opportunity to snorkel around a coral reef formation, giving us a taste to the beautiful day of tomorrow at the healthy reefs of Granito de Oro. A colorful sunset on the Pacific closed our day’s journey.
