Coiba Marine National Park, Panama
What a day! The perfect scenario: white sandy beach, bright blue skies, crystal clear waters, amazing snorkeling and a barbecue lunch. Coming from beautiful rain forest-covered Costa Rica, we found that the dramatic change was just the right touch. We had several opportunities to connect with nature. We took advantage of our early arrival and offered pre-breakfast birding at the ranger station which yielded new birds for the list.
The famed Devil Island of Panama, Coiba, once a penal colony (between the years of 1919-1996) became Panama’s latest and largest Marine National Park. This park has a total size of 172,000 hectares, 55,000 hectares of which is land mass alone.
Coiba Marina National Park is Panama most promising park. Coiba now is part of a multi-country effort to create one of the largest protected marine corridors of the Americas. Costa Rica’s Coco Island, Panama’s Coiba Island, Malpelo Colombia, and the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador are aggressively pursuing the master plan to introduce strong legislation in order to protect and unite these highly productive marine ecosystems for future generation.
As we departed from Coiba we had great sightings of two humpback whales. They were close enough for us to catch on film and see the fluke display! What a fantastic end to a perfect day.
What a day! The perfect scenario: white sandy beach, bright blue skies, crystal clear waters, amazing snorkeling and a barbecue lunch. Coming from beautiful rain forest-covered Costa Rica, we found that the dramatic change was just the right touch. We had several opportunities to connect with nature. We took advantage of our early arrival and offered pre-breakfast birding at the ranger station which yielded new birds for the list.
The famed Devil Island of Panama, Coiba, once a penal colony (between the years of 1919-1996) became Panama’s latest and largest Marine National Park. This park has a total size of 172,000 hectares, 55,000 hectares of which is land mass alone.
Coiba Marina National Park is Panama most promising park. Coiba now is part of a multi-country effort to create one of the largest protected marine corridors of the Americas. Costa Rica’s Coco Island, Panama’s Coiba Island, Malpelo Colombia, and the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador are aggressively pursuing the master plan to introduce strong legislation in order to protect and unite these highly productive marine ecosystems for future generation.
As we departed from Coiba we had great sightings of two humpback whales. They were close enough for us to catch on film and see the fluke display! What a fantastic end to a perfect day.
