Barro Colorado Island & Panama Canal
The sunrise at starboard side of the Sea Voyager filled the eyes with a splendid myriad of red tones on the horizon. Magnificent trees towering to the canopy were illuminated by the sun starting a new cycle of life in the rainforest at the area of Lake Gatun.
Our main morning destination was Barro Colorado Island (BCI). This rainforest reserve since the early twentieth century has provided an enormous amount of knowledge to the world about the new world tropics. The scientific community has been present constantly at Barro Colorado, making this 1500-hectare island one of the most researched forest within Latin America.
After a welcoming briefing from Dr. Egberth Leigh, a prominent scientist from BCI, we started to explore this rainforest walking or exploring with Zodiacs, with the interpretation from local naturalists of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. White-throated capuchin monkeys, northern tamandua anteater, mantled howler monkeys among others, with beautiful specimens of birds, amphibians and flora dedicated all of our attention to wildlife observation this morning.
Upon return to the ship and after taking time to share with other guests our personal sightings, we enjoyed lunch with the surprise of knowing that our Panama Canal pilot was on board ready to take us to the entrance of the next set of locks in Gatun.
By mid-afternoon with the perfect weather, we entered the second half of our crossing at the Panama Canal. However, just before our main focus was the transit of the locks, one of our guests observed from the sundeck a group of capybaras. This largest rodent of the world lives from the area of the Panama Canal south to northeast Argentina. Several other sightings kept adding species to our lifelist. This entire week was inspiring and left wonderful memories in our hearts.
The sunrise at starboard side of the Sea Voyager filled the eyes with a splendid myriad of red tones on the horizon. Magnificent trees towering to the canopy were illuminated by the sun starting a new cycle of life in the rainforest at the area of Lake Gatun.
Our main morning destination was Barro Colorado Island (BCI). This rainforest reserve since the early twentieth century has provided an enormous amount of knowledge to the world about the new world tropics. The scientific community has been present constantly at Barro Colorado, making this 1500-hectare island one of the most researched forest within Latin America.
After a welcoming briefing from Dr. Egberth Leigh, a prominent scientist from BCI, we started to explore this rainforest walking or exploring with Zodiacs, with the interpretation from local naturalists of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. White-throated capuchin monkeys, northern tamandua anteater, mantled howler monkeys among others, with beautiful specimens of birds, amphibians and flora dedicated all of our attention to wildlife observation this morning.
Upon return to the ship and after taking time to share with other guests our personal sightings, we enjoyed lunch with the surprise of knowing that our Panama Canal pilot was on board ready to take us to the entrance of the next set of locks in Gatun.
By mid-afternoon with the perfect weather, we entered the second half of our crossing at the Panama Canal. However, just before our main focus was the transit of the locks, one of our guests observed from the sundeck a group of capybaras. This largest rodent of the world lives from the area of the Panama Canal south to northeast Argentina. Several other sightings kept adding species to our lifelist. This entire week was inspiring and left wonderful memories in our hearts.
