On our voyage leaving Coiba National Park, the dutiful crew of National Geographic Quest guided our loyal vessel over 190 nautical miles towards a sunrise off Isla Boná. This uninhabited island is a nesting place for many birds of a feather who flock together, including brown pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds, blue-footed and brown boobies, and even peregrine falcons. Isla Boná provides safe harbor for the mating, nesting, and birthing activities that these species of birds participate in and it draws numbers in the several thousands of birds! Guests circumnavigated this miniscule land mass by Zodiac to get up close and personal with the lives that these creatures are living.
After leaving Isla Boná, the guests, staff and crew headed out for a very important date, our date with our Panama Canal pilot for the crossing of the Pacific side of the canal into Gatún Lake for the night. National Geographic vessels who transit the Panama Canal are the only ships to currently have permission to stay overnight in Gatún Lake. While transiting the Panama Canal throughout the night poses a challenge for picture taking, it is actually fully illuminated during the trip through the locks in order to highlight the mechanical and engineering marvel of this waterway.
