Islands of the Gulf of Panama
This morning we woke up to the soothing rolling of the Pacific Ocean swells. Just off of the Panama Canal exit lies the Gulf of Panama. The waters in this gulf are particularly rich due to a break in the mountain chains that parallel the western coastlines of several Central American nations, allowing the trade winds to blow over the gulf, pushing surface waters away. Nutrient-rich colder waters from below upwell to replace these, bringing about an extremely high productivity that forms the basis of a complex web of life. Thousands of sea birds take advantage of this phenomenon and nest all through the islands of the Gulf.
The menu of the morning included Zodiac cruises around tall, rocky cacti-draped islets. Brown boobies in nests with their downy white chicks, magnificent frigatebird males displaying their red balloon-like pouches to attract the females, and a few sightings of brown pelicans and blue-footed boobies were effortless. Pictures and memories were the most important things we took from this region. As the early morning currents gave way to calmer waters, we took our first chance to swim off of the stern of the ship.
On board for fantastic lunch, not unusual as we all already know, our vessel began moving to its next destination: Coiba Island on the western side of Panama in the Pacific. As we began cruising, brown boobies and a few Pantropical spotted dolphins made us company. As the sun set on the horizon we all went to bed with the lulling movement of our already well-known home away from home: the Sea Voyager.
This morning we woke up to the soothing rolling of the Pacific Ocean swells. Just off of the Panama Canal exit lies the Gulf of Panama. The waters in this gulf are particularly rich due to a break in the mountain chains that parallel the western coastlines of several Central American nations, allowing the trade winds to blow over the gulf, pushing surface waters away. Nutrient-rich colder waters from below upwell to replace these, bringing about an extremely high productivity that forms the basis of a complex web of life. Thousands of sea birds take advantage of this phenomenon and nest all through the islands of the Gulf.
The menu of the morning included Zodiac cruises around tall, rocky cacti-draped islets. Brown boobies in nests with their downy white chicks, magnificent frigatebird males displaying their red balloon-like pouches to attract the females, and a few sightings of brown pelicans and blue-footed boobies were effortless. Pictures and memories were the most important things we took from this region. As the early morning currents gave way to calmer waters, we took our first chance to swim off of the stern of the ship.
On board for fantastic lunch, not unusual as we all already know, our vessel began moving to its next destination: Coiba Island on the western side of Panama in the Pacific. As we began cruising, brown boobies and a few Pantropical spotted dolphins made us company. As the sun set on the horizon we all went to bed with the lulling movement of our already well-known home away from home: the Sea Voyager.
