Barro Del Colorado Island, Panama Canal, Panama
Today we had a very rare and unique opportunity before completing our crossing of the Panama Canal. We were able to stop our transit halfway trough the canal and visit Barro Del Colorado Island, a man made island created during the construction of the Panama Canal when the Chagres River was dammed to create Gatun Lake and the waterway for the canal.
Barro Del Colorado Island or BCI as it’s known (for its initials) became the largest island in Gatun Lake and, almost from the very beginning, became a place for scientific research to monitor how the tropical flora and fauna behave in a small tropical island. Since then BCI has become a mecca for research and studies of the tropical rain forest, literally one of the most, if not the most, studied piece of tropical rainforest that is on our planet.
In 1946, the Smithsonian Institute was appointed the administrator of BCI and since then has launched a number of projects of long and short-term research in order to reveal some of the many mysteries that are locked in what we now know is the most rich ecosystem in the world, as it is the tropical rainforest.
So, this morning after breakfast we had a welcoming talk by Egbert Leigh one of the scientists of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and then we splintered in different trails and Zodiac cruises around BCI to learn some more about this place and its work, as well as to have our last glimpse of tropical rain forest.
After our morning exploration and once we got a Panama Canal Pilot on board National Geographic Sea Lion, we were ready to continue the rest of our transit through the Panama Canal on our way to the Caribbean side. This is definitely one of the wonders of the modern era and a perfect ending for a great trip between Costa Rica and Panama.
