Welcome, everyone, to Panama! The second country of our journey welcomed us today with the beautiful clear blue ocean waters and dense dark green of the rainforests of Coiba National Park. Once a prison for the worse criminals of the country, Coiba National Park is now part of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor, which includes Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, Coco Island in Costa Rica, as well as the Gorgona and Malpelo Islands in Colombia.
Our morning excursion took us to a tiny dream island called Granito de Oro—little grain of gold—where all of our beach visions became true. One of the three hundred and some islets that belong to Coiba National Park, this place offers a bit of it all. Its great for swimming, paddle boarding, boogie boards, relaxing on a chair, kayaking, lying on the beach, and mostly for snorkeling. The conditions this morning were great for any activity as the tide slowly went out.
This is the best kept remaining coral reef of all of the eastern tropical Pacific, with mostly rocky and hermatipic coral formations. We found a large array of fish and invertebrates as we ventured into the undersea world. Everyone came back out of the water with great descriptions of fish, urchins, and even octopus and giant clams. The list was almost endless: bicolor parrotfish, barberfish, Moorish idol, spotted eagle ray, tiger snake eel, silversides, crocodile needlefish, Reef cornetfish, trumpetfish, snappers, grunts, chubs, angelfish, parrotfish, wrasses, and many, many more.
Whatever we all did, we were all very satisfied with our outing, as it allowed us to enjoy the warm December sun of the tropical islands of Panama.
