This morning we had our first encounter during daylight with the Pacific Ocean at the Panama Gulf.
We navigated during the night through the Panama Canal to the small and remote islands of Bona, Otoque and Estiva, farther inside the Gulf of Panama. At Bona Island our travelers were delighted with the amazing nesting sites of seabirds such as the magnificent frigatebirds, brown pelicans, brown boobies and the uncommon blue-footed boobies, which allowed us to approach very close to their nests.
Our naturalist interpreters shared their knowledge with our guests about how important the seasonal upwelling is for the wildlife in the air and water, which is why there are so many fish and birds here. We saw several deciduous trees already losing their leaves as we passed by in the inflatables and were amazed by how different the tropical rain forest can look from the dry to the wet season.
Back on board, National Geographic Sea Lion sailed towards our next destination of the day, Isla Iguana. Along the way we saw many brown boobies fishing and being harassed by the magnificent frigatebirds trying to steal their catch. Several flocks of black terns were spotted in the distance enjoying a feeding frenzy.
Later in the afternoon we heard the anchor being dropped. We had arrived to the protected wildlife refuge of Isla Iguana. Our guests geared up and went ashore, ready to put into practice their snorkeling skills. A walk around the island was offered to see its volcanic soil and the wildlife that dwells in this remote paradise. Spiny-tailed iguanas and nesting magnificent frigatebirds were the major attraction on this little island. A beautiful mangrove yellow warbler with its very conspicuous red (almost crimson) head caught our attention as we passed next to him on the trail.
Even though we would have loved to stay on this lovely island with its white sandy beach, we returned to our ship for sunset. Sea Lion weighed anchor; we had 120 nautical miles to cover in order to reach our next day’s destination, Coiba Island National Park.
