One Last Adventure at Sea

Sunrise this morning!

Waking up  this morning I could feel the end of our journey was coming soon, with only two days left on this beautiful island it’s a bittersweet feeling knowing soon I’ll have to say goodbye. We’ve been on the island for 10 days and I think its safe to say it has been an amazing 10 days.  Before going over the daily events I wanted to give everyone some background information about our home (STRI) in Bocas del Toro.

We are staying at STRI, or Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, it is a marine laboratory just outside the town of Bocas del Toro on Isla Colon. It is one of two marine labs that are run by STRI, this lab is on the Caribbean coast of Panama and is a place for students and scientists to come and conduct research. Although I use the term STRI to describe where we are staying this location it is also apart of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute which is a bureau of the Smithsonian Institute based in Washington D.C. STRI is based in Panama and is involved in research projects throughout the tropics.  They have 12 research stations throughout the tropics including Barro Colorado Island, Gamboa and Naos Island.

Dock leading to the Caribbean

Main building at STRI

When I first arrived at STRI one of the first things that stood out to me was that the dock that leads to the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean is visible almost immediately after crossing through the entrance gates. The dock is home to 8 boats which are used to help carry out research in the surrounding waters. During our time in Bocas we’ve been going out on the boat Scarus with Cristiano as our captain. After taking in just how close the dock and Caribbean are the first noticeable large building is the main laboratory building. Within this building room 111 has been our home during our visit, it’s where we have lecture, do lab work and just escape from the daily heat.  In front of the main building is a small lake that surrounds it on one side, it is home to turtles, caimans, and several species of birds and fish. During the day bird watching is the way to go, the reptiles are hidden within the murky waters, but at night it’s worth a visit because the caiman comes out of the water for a rest! The best way to see these guys is to wear a headlamp and scan the edge of the lake to look for two reflecting lights (the caiman's eyes).  So far on this trip I’ve seen two caimans out of the water at once! Behind the lagoon and lab building is a path that will take you to two dormitories and two houses that are used to house students and researchers. We are staying in the older dormitory with the kitchen attached to it. There are 4 rooms in this dorm, each room has 3 sets of bunk beds and a bathroom. Living at the station is like being incorporated into the forest with the amount of trees and wildlife that can be seen just walking to and from the docks every day. At night the sounds of geckos and cicada sing us to sleep and we are woken up by the calls of parrots, wood rails and roadside hawks having their morning conversations.  

Now on to the day’s events! Today started out with an early breakfast of pancakes and pineapple, then it was off to work on projects until 11:00 am.  Two groups, Ninjas and Damsels, went into the field to collect data, and two groups, firemen and team buff,  remained in the lab to assess the data they’d collected the previous days (see Theresa’s blog for more details!).  At eleven there was an invigorating lecture by Richard on the mating habits of corals. Then after a break for lunch we headed out on the Scarus with Cristiano on our last snorkel adventure of the trip! As we left the dock everyone was gunning to get in the water as the heat of the afternoon began to take its toll.

Spotted Drum Fish

Queen Angelfish

Our first stop, Punta Caracol, was a new dive spot for everyone so it was sure to be an exciting stop. After snorkeling with our buddies for sometime Richard pointed out a new fish we’ve never seen before and most of the group took turns diving down to try and get a glimpse of this beautiful fish.  We later
discovered it was a spotted drum fish! They are a very unique looking fish with an unusually long dorsal fin, stripes on their bodies and spots on their fins.  After about half an hour of exploring the reefs  mangal and sea

Corals at Punta Caracol

grass it started to rain and I took a few minutes to listen to the thunder and watch a storm move in over us. However my brief break was interrupted when Willie called me over to see something.  As I swam over I noticed a large cloud of sand stirred up below him, he pointed in the distance and I spotted a roughtail stingray (Dasyatis centroura) swimming away.  Soon Jan and Christy had joined us and we followed the ray (at a safe distance) for about ten minutes watching it  feeding on invertebrates in the sandy bottom.

Roughtail Stingray feeding

Warty Jellyfish

                     

Spotted Eagle Ray

Zoanthids, coral, sponge, brittle stars and sea aneome of the reef

Orange Filefish

Our last snorkel stop for the trip was off the coast of Isla Cristobal. Immediately upon jumping in Willie and Jaron shouted about a spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari) and as I raced over  the eagle ray actually swam right by me!  I almost missed it but luckily my snorkel buddy Robbie pointed it out just in time for me to snap a quick picture! I was really excited to get a picture of this graceful animal. The colors at this location really stood out, the blues of the zoanthids mixed with the yellow and oranges of the corals, the purples and reds of the sponges and the many colors of the brittle stars, sea urchins and fish made for a beautiful site. The reef was teeming with life with damsel’s defending their territory, parrotfish munching on coral, jellyfish slowly swimming above it all. After a little under an hour exploring this colorful reef it was time for us to get out and head back to STRI.  After a delicious dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce and chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert, Mandi and Christy headed out for a night snorkel while others worked in the lab on their projects and daily journals. 

Adios! 

 -Kristi Ellison