Coiba National Park, Panama
The navigation toward Coiba National Park could not have been better; the Pacific Ocean was calm as a lake and the moon witnessed the National Geographic Sea Lion dropping anchor beside a tiny little Grain of Gold. That is actually the name of one of the many islands that comprises this marine preserve. From the ship, Granito de Oro looks like a bright white sand strip with enough space just for two coconut palms. But its beauty is hidden underwater.
Coiba National Park belongs to a very important protected zone, the Tropical Eastern Marine Corridor. Besides Coiba, it includes the Cocos Island from Costa Rica, Malpelo and Gorgonia Islands from Colombia, and Galápagos from Ecuador. This marine corridor helps the protection of areas where marine species migrate, like whales, dolphins, and sea turtles. It also regulates the fishing industry.
And because there is no better way to help protect an area than to see the beauty of it through your own eyes, we geared up with our snorkels, flippers and masks and went off to the water. Granito de Oro has a rocky reef, meaning that the heads of corals grow on top of large basalt boulders and create the most stunning and captivating ecosystems. Hundreds of colorful fishes make this place their home, nesting, and cleaning stations, and of course, others will use it as their diners, drive-ins and dive bars …
As the guests were returning from this underwater paradise, the questions of all this mix and match of colors and shapes popped out straight to the naturalist like this, “Well, it was this big, and green but with a purple tail and…”
The most popular fish were the quite large green-turquoise with a fused beak parrotfish, the blue with bright iridescent blue spots juvenile from the Giant Damsel fish, or the black and white polka dotted Guinea-fowl puffer fish whose toxic tissues make it uneatable and therefore it swims like it has no worries in life. But there were a couple of fishes that everyone, at first glance, knew straight away – the white-tipped reef sharks. They are the gang from the reef moving slowly and mysteriously through the crevices of the rocks, resting until the dusk comes down, and then it’s party time.
For the afternoon the National Geographic Sea Lion repositioned to the main island where the park ranger station is located for a beach barbeque that gave us just a bit more energy for more activities. Kayaking was a good option to enjoy the waters from a different perspective while cruising along the protected bay, while others decided to change the subject of observation and went for a bird watching walk around the premises.
No matter what we were doing, swimming, beach combing or lounging in a hammock, it just all felt perfect… what a great end to our transit through this beautiful country, Panama.
