Today we woke up in the middle of Lake Gatun, looking at one of the most important research stations in the tropics, Barro Colorado Island.
For almost a century this place has been preserved to further the understanding of tropical rainforests and take samples and inventory of plants, birds, mammals, soil, and all the components that form the tropical rainforest.
We took our guests on different hikes and Zodiac cruises around the island, and nature rewarded our guests with some good wildlife sightings.
Howler monkeys, white-faced capuchins, American crocodiles basking on the shorelines of the island, and many tropical birds were spotted around the perimeter of this spectacular place.
In the afternoon, after a great lunch onboard, we sailed to the anchorage point and got in the line to cross the Panama Canal. We got lucky to do a daylight crossing as we shared the locks chamber with a vessel almost the same size as us.
Seeing the Panama Canal, and the Panamanians running the waterway, is one of the most interesting feats to appreciate and we were able to see the new locks receiving the Neo Panamax vessel carrying twice more cargo than the vessels over the original locks.
We descended the three chambers on Gatun Locks 85 feet down to the Caribbean Sea.
Moreover, we put an end to a great week in Panama and Costa Rica.
