The day started with an early morning DIB cruise through the waters surrounding Bona Island. This is a fantastic place for bird watching. We were treated to the high flying antics of the magnificent frigatebirds who are masters of the wing. They soared overhead and the males wooed us with their colorful red gular pouches. The brown pelicans cruised in formation and dove into the water with impressive velocity. And the brown and blue- footed boobies dotted the shore and splashed into the waves as they fished for breakfast.
Luckily, we didn’t have to work as hard for our meals and we enjoyed a relaxing lunch onboard the National Geographic Sea Lion. After lunch we had a surprise visit from several pantropical spotted dolphins who entertained us with a spectacular bow ride! Our naturalist Jose followed up the dolphin action with an informative talk about Panama’s native cultures.
The afternoon found us anchored at Iguana Island for more bird watching, some light hiking, as well as swimming and snorkeling. The beach was crawling with hermit crabs. The sound of the crabs rustling through the dried leaves on the ground was like rain falling. The skies were swarming with shore birds. We even caught glimpses of the small yellow warbler darting through the trees. The waters were calm and gave us the perfect opportunity to get comfortable with our snorkeling equipment. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the beach. As our black “limos” motor us back to the ship, the sun set and the full moon rose. It was another perfect day in the tropics!
