Bay of Panama and the Pacific Locks of the Panama Canal
The Bay of Panama is part of the massive body of water that Balboa encountered in 1813 and named the Pacific Ocean. It truly has been calm and pacific sea through our expedition, and today was no exception. For our second day in the beautiful country of Panama, we decided to enjoy the real everyday life of a seabird colony, with hundreds of boobies, pelicans and frigate birds. With our trusty Zodiacs, we explored the shorelines of the three-island archipelago of Otoque and Bona. As far as our eyes were able to reach, we saw hundreds of silhouettes decorating the blue skies, chunky, slick and torpedo shape.
These islands, among many more in the Golf of Panama, are very important nesting sites for seabirds, because of the high nutritious waters surrounding them. Its richness comes from the strong influence of the northeast trade winds, which blow over Panama and with the absences of high mountains they have enough power to blow away the warm poor nutrient water from the surface, which is replace by the cool bottom waters abundant in food. This food chain gets completed when microscopic organisms turn these waters into the most delicious sea food soup ever; allowing the pelicans, boobies and frigates birds to find enough food for them and their young. Another factor that makes these islands such important seabird rockeries is the lack of predators, which is vital for species that nest on the ground like the brown boobies.
Not just seabirds benefit from these rich waters, but many other marine creatures as well. As the Zodiacs were exploring the island, a pod of large delicate Bottle nose dolphins displayed their swimming abilities; followed by the mysterious golden colored Cow-nose rays, which appeared later on in the afternoon, as the National Geographic Sea Lion was heading to our appointment with the Panama Canal.
With a beautiful sunset and a soft tropical ocean breeze, we all enjoyed the crossing of our first set of locks from the Panama Canal. Definitely a man made wonder; this engineering master piece keeps working as well and precise as it did almost a hundred years ago. No matter how many times I have crossed before, it stills amazes me.
