Barro Colorado Island & Panama Canal
Last night we had a beautiful crossing through the Gatun Locks on the Caribbean side of Panama. The Panama Canal is very well illuminated, and there is so much going on! So much human activity, people and huge machinery on the move!
The Panama Canal at night is truly visually dramatic.
After going through the Gatun Locks, the National Geographic Sea Lion, under the command of the Panama Canal pilot, navigated to its designated anchorage spot in the manmade Gatun Lake to spend a well-deserved restful night after a very intense traveling day.
Before the break of dawn while deep in our dreams, some of us could perceive the ignition of our main engines, and the motion towards our next destination for our morning activities at the renowned Barro Colorado Island (B.C.I.) run by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
To be able to visit BCI it is a dream come true for anybody interested in tropical biology.
Likely BCI is meter-by-meter one of the most studied places in Earth. A good amount of what is known about the tropics has been gathered in BCI.
So this morning we explored the trails and surrounding of this island that used to be the top of a hill when the lake was created in 1910. Local certified Smithsonian guides led the walks, and with them we learned about the basics of how the forest works, insights of the research taking place at this moment, and we could walk on the very same trails that so many tropical scientist have walked in the past and continue to walk on today.
We saw today on the walks and Zodiacs, the gigantic “Cuipo” and “tropical almond” trees, the brightly colored “yellow poui” tree among many others, and we learned about their ecology. We saw snail kites, slaty-tailed trogons, American crocodiles, mantled howler monkeys, harlequin poison-dart frogs, and a green parrot snake, among several other things.
After our morning walks and Zodiac cruises satisfying our minds and senses, we returned to the ship for a delicious lunch and to find that our second Panama Canal pilot of the day was already waiting for us to take us through our second leg of the Canal.
We were much excited when we were informed that during this next leg of the Canal crossing we would be sharing the locks with a Chilean submarine. Military vessels are quite rare in the Panama Canal. As we arrived to the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks the sub was surprisingly already there, and then we found out that it was a tiny sub, with basically all of its crew, captain officers, Panama Canal cable handlers, and pilot crammed on top of its tiny narrow hull; quite a scene!
So our day ended finally by making it to the Panama Bay on the Pacific Ocean, biding goodbye to the tiny Chilean submarine on a mission who knows where, and us, off to new explorations, navigating at sunset under the bridge of the Americas while having some wine and fresh ceviche.
