This morning the first thing that came to our minds was our expedition leader Christian’s last words the night before: “Tomorrow morning we will be in my country, Panama!” Many of us woke up early to see this new country waiting for us and found a spectacular sunrise with the Panamanian mountains on the horizon.
A head of us we could start to see islands covered with lush vegetation. We were looking at the Coiba National Park that consists of an archipelago of about 38 islands and a total area of 500 square kilometers. This pristine island hosted a Panamanian penal colony for many years and because of this the beauty and nature of this park was left practically untouched until it was declared a national park. Today it is also classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, meaning this beautiful jewel will remain protected forever.
We had been training and waiting for this day with kayaking and snorkeling briefings and outings, now we were ready to enjoy the most important coral reef in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. Some were very experienced snorkelers and others were learning. The naturalist kept on talking about how good this place was for snorkeling, so we could not wait to get in the water and see all that was promised.
As the expedition leader announced our arrival to our spot, in front of us we could see this tiny little Island with nothing but a few palms on the most beautiful white sand beach. We found our golden spot, the island of Granito de Oro. As we approached on the expedition landing craft, crystal clear waters revealed the rock and coral reef formations and even some of the fish.
We made our way in to the water and it wasn’t long until we started to see a rich amount of fish: king angelfish, bicolor parrotfish, Moorish idol, sargeant majors, guineafoul puffer and damselfish were just some of the fish that were easy to identify. As we were in the reef a little longer, some were able to observe the top predator of the reef in Granito de Oro: the whitetip reef shark. Kayaking was also offered, and some enjoyed simply sitting in the shade to watch the million hermit crabs of this island.
What a great day we had!
