Otoque and Bona Islands, Gulf of Panama
Today we had our second day of the trip and our first day of sailing in the Pacific Ocean and, what can I say, things just keep getting better.
The morning found us anchored in front of the islands named Otoque and Bona on the Panama Gulf. Directly after breakfast we went for Zodiac cruises around the islands to see the bird life they support. We were able to see brown pelicans, brown boobies, magnificent frigatebirds, herons, blue footed boobies, and one of the Zodiacs where lucky enough to see a Bryde’s whale. Though, probably the most amazing features of these islands are the amount of birds we saw! Countless numbers of seabirds soaring about us!
This Gulf can sustain such large population of seabirds due to a seasonal upwelling that takes place at the beginning of the winter time of North America. This is the time of the year in which the trade winds increase their strength and after depositing all of the humidity that they have absorbed from the Atlantic Ocean in the Caribbean side of Central America, they go across the continental divide and become dry wind that blow away all the clouds on the pacific side of Central America creating the dry season.
Here at the Panama gulf the continental divide is so low that the winds get to the coast with enough power to blow the warm sterile water of the surface and let it be replaced by cold water from the bottom. This water is full of nutrients, which creates the perfect conditions for an explosion of life increasing the water productivity. This planktonic explosion attracts small fish and this in turn will attract other larger fish and thus the food chain continues. What we saw today in the birding colony was the different species of birds taking their part of the bounty.
The rest of the day we spent cruising on our way to tomorrow’s destination on Panama. A few of us went up to the bow looking for marine life where we were rewarded by spotting sea turtles and a hammerhead shark.
Today we had our second day of the trip and our first day of sailing in the Pacific Ocean and, what can I say, things just keep getting better.
The morning found us anchored in front of the islands named Otoque and Bona on the Panama Gulf. Directly after breakfast we went for Zodiac cruises around the islands to see the bird life they support. We were able to see brown pelicans, brown boobies, magnificent frigatebirds, herons, blue footed boobies, and one of the Zodiacs where lucky enough to see a Bryde’s whale. Though, probably the most amazing features of these islands are the amount of birds we saw! Countless numbers of seabirds soaring about us!
This Gulf can sustain such large population of seabirds due to a seasonal upwelling that takes place at the beginning of the winter time of North America. This is the time of the year in which the trade winds increase their strength and after depositing all of the humidity that they have absorbed from the Atlantic Ocean in the Caribbean side of Central America, they go across the continental divide and become dry wind that blow away all the clouds on the pacific side of Central America creating the dry season.
Here at the Panama gulf the continental divide is so low that the winds get to the coast with enough power to blow the warm sterile water of the surface and let it be replaced by cold water from the bottom. This water is full of nutrients, which creates the perfect conditions for an explosion of life increasing the water productivity. This planktonic explosion attracts small fish and this in turn will attract other larger fish and thus the food chain continues. What we saw today in the birding colony was the different species of birds taking their part of the bounty.
The rest of the day we spent cruising on our way to tomorrow’s destination on Panama. A few of us went up to the bow looking for marine life where we were rewarded by spotting sea turtles and a hammerhead shark.
