Panama Bay Islets and the Panama Canal Transit
Finally the day that we have all been expecting since day one, the Panama Canal transit, has arrived. We navigated all night and woke up in front of three little islands located in the Bay of Panama, after the sunrise, from National Geographic Sea Lion we could see an incredible amount of birds soaring over the islands. During breakfast we were commenting about the fact that during this time of the year the bird activity in the islands is at its peak. What an incredible adventure was waiting for us.
We boarded the Zodiacs and ventured around the island of Bona, and the minute we got close to it we started seeing the real picture. From the ship we could only see a fraction of the actual activity in the area, now we started seeing the thousands and thousands of birds. Magnificent frigatebirds, brown boobies, blue-footed boobies, brown pelicans made up the biggest numbers. In the first section we could see many nests of brown boobies and their little white puffy babies.
Around the first bay, the sky was completely full of large birds with thin wings and forked tails, the frigatebirds, some begging for food, some feeding and some resting. The most exuberant were the males with their gigantic gular pouches inflated. They appeared to be bright red basketballs decorating the trees.
After this bountiful adventure we started navigating towards the Panama Canal, the photo instructor on board was giving lessons of how to take great pictures of the canal and of the exceptional scenery. We stopped right at the entrance of the Canal, in front of Panama City; here we enjoyed some cocktails and relaxation. While we were enjoying an incredible sunset, National Geographic Sea Lion started entering the Canal and went under the Bridge of the Americas.
Now the action began! Line handlers, locomotives, concrete walls and of course the gigantic doors started opening and closing, the water raised and the doors opened and closed again. After hearing about it all of our lives, after reading the incredible books about it, after seeing the documentaries on TV, after so much expectation, here we are looking at this amazing world wonder the longstanding and magnificent Panama Canal.
