Coiba Island
Good weather conditions afforded us fair sailing during the night, and we pulled up to one of the many jewels in Panama’s crown slightly earlier than anticipated, and were all soon ready to disembark and start exploring. Our destination this morning was Coiba Island, in the Chiriqui Gulf, Panama’s largest island at 493 square kilometres and since 1991 the country’s newest national park, of which 80% is oceanic.
Apart from spectacular scenery, marine life including healthy reefs and pristine rainforest, much of which is still primary, Coiba also has a pretty colourful history, as for decades it has been the site of a federal penal colony. Hundreds of convicts still inhabit a large ominous-looking cellblock known as “Central” and in huts at beachside prison camps, however none of this was visible to our curious eyes as we snorkelled the clear blue waters and later hiked through the rainforest, the only clue being a couple of armed park wardens accompanying us on our hike.
Just off Coiba and close to our anchorage is a tiny islet called “Granito de Oro”, which literally translates as “little grain of gold”, and what an apt title! This diminutive islet with its golden sand, palm trees and hermit crabs became our own paradise for a few hours during the morning. The surrounding waters also offered us the most wonderful snorkelling we could possibly have wished for, and a great chance to compare the marine life of the now very different ecological realms of the Pacific and Caribbean. The Pacific coastline offers not nearly the diversity of corals that we found in the Caribbean, with just two main species predominant around today’s snorkelling area, and none of the spectacular gorgonians. Fish however are another story, and the rocks and patches of corals around Granito were teeming with abundant fish life, more than we had encountered anywhere so far. Our sightings went from angelfish, butterflyfish, surgeonfish and pufferfish to moray eels and two species of sharks! The latter are both harmless species, the white-tipped reef shark and the nurse shark (in the picture), which lazily circled the coral heads before settling back on the sea bed, but the grace and elegant movements of these supremely well-adapted marine predators had us spellbound.
Good weather conditions afforded us fair sailing during the night, and we pulled up to one of the many jewels in Panama’s crown slightly earlier than anticipated, and were all soon ready to disembark and start exploring. Our destination this morning was Coiba Island, in the Chiriqui Gulf, Panama’s largest island at 493 square kilometres and since 1991 the country’s newest national park, of which 80% is oceanic.
Apart from spectacular scenery, marine life including healthy reefs and pristine rainforest, much of which is still primary, Coiba also has a pretty colourful history, as for decades it has been the site of a federal penal colony. Hundreds of convicts still inhabit a large ominous-looking cellblock known as “Central” and in huts at beachside prison camps, however none of this was visible to our curious eyes as we snorkelled the clear blue waters and later hiked through the rainforest, the only clue being a couple of armed park wardens accompanying us on our hike.
Just off Coiba and close to our anchorage is a tiny islet called “Granito de Oro”, which literally translates as “little grain of gold”, and what an apt title! This diminutive islet with its golden sand, palm trees and hermit crabs became our own paradise for a few hours during the morning. The surrounding waters also offered us the most wonderful snorkelling we could possibly have wished for, and a great chance to compare the marine life of the now very different ecological realms of the Pacific and Caribbean. The Pacific coastline offers not nearly the diversity of corals that we found in the Caribbean, with just two main species predominant around today’s snorkelling area, and none of the spectacular gorgonians. Fish however are another story, and the rocks and patches of corals around Granito were teeming with abundant fish life, more than we had encountered anywhere so far. Our sightings went from angelfish, butterflyfish, surgeonfish and pufferfish to moray eels and two species of sharks! The latter are both harmless species, the white-tipped reef shark and the nurse shark (in the picture), which lazily circled the coral heads before settling back on the sea bed, but the grace and elegant movements of these supremely well-adapted marine predators had us spellbound.
