Coiba Island
On crossing the Panama Canal, we left the Atlantic way behind, to enter the Eastern Tropical Pacific: a truly fascinating oceanic realm. It is vastly different from both the Western Pacific and the Caribbean, mainly due to the wide open shorelines and strong winds that cause significant upwellings. The nutrient rich waters are responsible for the myriad seabirds seen roosting and flying overhead the last couple of days… We have spent hours of fun on deck, watching for the unexpected that ranges from dolphin fish (Mahi mahi) leaping repeatedly out of the mirror-calm waters in hot pursuit of flying fish to sea turtles or yellow-bellied sea snakes.
The early risers this morning got to enjoy a spectacular sunrise over Panama’s largest island, 493-sq-km Isla Coiba, in the Gulf of Chiriqui. This island was, until very recently, the site of a federal penal colony, which stopped it from being discovered by developers and maintained it in completely pristine conditions. The greatest highlight of this island is that it houses the second largest coral reef in the Eastern Pacific. This in itself is not saying much if compared to the 70 genera of reef-building corals found in the western Pacific or the 30 genera in the Caribbean, as the eastern Pacific only boasts about 9 genera. These are plentiful in the shallows around the picturesque little Granito de Oro (“Little Grain of Gold”). Flitting among these corals were thousands of colourful reef fish, such as the Moorish idols, king angel fish and butterfly fish; sinuous green moray eels, graceful green and hawksbill sea turtles and many more.
The great highlight of our day, however, was swimming and snorkelling amongst those most perfectly adapted predators of the sea: the sharks. Sharks belong to the Elasmobranchii, or the cartilaginous fishes. The species we encountered was a harmless one, called the white-tipped reef shark, due to the white tip crowning the dorsal and anal fins. We remained enchanted by the fluidity of the movements of these majestic creatures, and couldn’t help feeling the tragedy befalling them, as even though only ten out of the over 250 species of sharks are potentially dangerous, they are all affected by the stigma shadowing them. We have all been changed by today’s experience!
On crossing the Panama Canal, we left the Atlantic way behind, to enter the Eastern Tropical Pacific: a truly fascinating oceanic realm. It is vastly different from both the Western Pacific and the Caribbean, mainly due to the wide open shorelines and strong winds that cause significant upwellings. The nutrient rich waters are responsible for the myriad seabirds seen roosting and flying overhead the last couple of days… We have spent hours of fun on deck, watching for the unexpected that ranges from dolphin fish (Mahi mahi) leaping repeatedly out of the mirror-calm waters in hot pursuit of flying fish to sea turtles or yellow-bellied sea snakes.
The early risers this morning got to enjoy a spectacular sunrise over Panama’s largest island, 493-sq-km Isla Coiba, in the Gulf of Chiriqui. This island was, until very recently, the site of a federal penal colony, which stopped it from being discovered by developers and maintained it in completely pristine conditions. The greatest highlight of this island is that it houses the second largest coral reef in the Eastern Pacific. This in itself is not saying much if compared to the 70 genera of reef-building corals found in the western Pacific or the 30 genera in the Caribbean, as the eastern Pacific only boasts about 9 genera. These are plentiful in the shallows around the picturesque little Granito de Oro (“Little Grain of Gold”). Flitting among these corals were thousands of colourful reef fish, such as the Moorish idols, king angel fish and butterfly fish; sinuous green moray eels, graceful green and hawksbill sea turtles and many more.
The great highlight of our day, however, was swimming and snorkelling amongst those most perfectly adapted predators of the sea: the sharks. Sharks belong to the Elasmobranchii, or the cartilaginous fishes. The species we encountered was a harmless one, called the white-tipped reef shark, due to the white tip crowning the dorsal and anal fins. We remained enchanted by the fluidity of the movements of these majestic creatures, and couldn’t help feeling the tragedy befalling them, as even though only ten out of the over 250 species of sharks are potentially dangerous, they are all affected by the stigma shadowing them. We have all been changed by today’s experience!
