¡Buenos Dias!
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| The Water Taxi to Almirante |
On the
fifth day in Bocas del Toro, Panama, we journeyed over to the mainland to spend the
day visiting the San San Pond Sak Wetlands Reserve. We first traveled across
the bay via water taxi to the coastal city of Almirante where we met two local taxi
divers that shuttled us to the reserve. The city of Almirante was appealing
because it was originally designed as a major port of banana exports, although out
of commission today, the history and the indigenous people of the town are still very prevalent. While driving through the town on our way to the reserve, we got to see a part of Panama that we
have yet to experience. The indigenous people of the Ngäbe-Buglé indians occupied
the town of Almirante. We were able to
experience some of the everyday activities they went about doing as they were either on their way
to school, playing around in the grassy yards, or hard at work helping to raise
and support their families. I thought it
was very interesting to see how the town functioned compared to the society in which we live and the similarities and differences amongst us.
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| Homes in Almirante |
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| San San Pond Sak Wetlands Reserve |
After we passed
through the city and crossed the mountains of the Changuinola region, we
arrived at the San San Pond Sak Wetlands Reserve located on the upper part of
the San San River. We were first introduced to a man named José, a local that
has been working with the San San Pond Sak Wetlands Reserve for quite some time
and knew a lot about the history and current status of the reserve. Shortly
after, we learned that José did not speak any English and it would of made it
very difficult for us to learn about the reserve if it wasn’t for the help of
one of our classmates, Katalin Plummer, who was able to translate and relay the
information to the rest of the group. Thanks to her, we started the tour off
with a short introduction about the reserve and all that it does for the
protected wetlands. We learned that the San San Pond Sak Wetlands is an
internationally important protected area that focuses on the restoration of
Panamanian forests, as well as the protection and restoration of local manatee and sea
turtle populations.
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| José |
After the
introduction, we all piled into a boat and headed down the river for the start
of our tour of the reserve. As we cruised down the river, we were surrounded on
both sides by dense walls of luscious green forest, full of wildlife. After
being warned that we were not expecting to see any manatees in the river, we
focused our attention on the animals of the surrounding forest. We were able to
see lots of birds including some pelicans, swallows, and a few terns, as well
as a couple of iguanas posting up in the treetops lining the river bank. The most
exciting thing we got to see today was a three-toed sloth hanging around in the
trees. We ended up seeing about a half dozen of them throughout the rest of the
tour. This was the first sighting of a sloth that we have seen on this trip and
I think it’s safe to say that it made everyone’s day because the group couldn’t
have been more excited after witnessing the sloths!
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| Three-toed Sloth Hanging Out |
The first
stop we made along the river was at a piece of land that was donated by the Chiquita
Banana Company in 2009 for restoration purposes. A few years ago trees were
planted across the land in order to help restore the forest. We wanted to walk
back into the land but unfortunately, it had rained the day before and we
quickly realized that the shoes we had were no match for the muddy area so we weren’t
able to go too far. Instead, we gathered near the dock where a man, who turned
out to be José’s father, showed us a few of the plants growing nearby;
including some abnormally shaped square bananas. These were unlike any bananas
I’ve ever seen before. With their unusual four-sided figure and much larger size,
we didn’t really know what to expect; but after trying some we were amazed by how
delicious they were.
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| Square Bananas are a Bunch of Fun |
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| Fresh Coconut Water for Lunch |
The last
stop we made was at the site along the river, close to the river mouth, where the
Leatherback Sea Turtles came to breed. Unfortunately, this was not the breeding
time of the year for sea turtles so we didn’t get a chance to see any. Instead,
we walked the beach for a short period of time and then took a break for lunch.
During lunch we were given our own freshly cut coconuts from a local neighbor
that we enjoyed while finishing our lunches. Afterwards, we packed all of our
things, got back on the boat, and headed up the river for our departure
back to STRI.
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| Newborn Leatherback Sea Turtles |
After a bit
of unwinding back at STRI, we concluded the night with the first nighttime
snorkeling adventure. We suited up after dark at the STRI dock and headed into
the water just beyond the dock. Fully equipped with our snorkeling gear and flashlights,
we plunged into the water and snorkeled around for about 20 minutes. During the
swim, we encountered tons of baseball-sized green sea urchins meandering around
among the seagrasses. We also got to see a little puffer fish, a few Caribbean
reef squids, and many grunt fish swimming about. We even encountered several box-jellyfish,
called Sea Wasps, which were drifting along just below the surface of the
water. Due to the nasty, painful sting
it can induce on a person’s skin, we decided to turn around and head back to
the dock in order to prevent any incidents. Although the night snorkel was
concluded early, the night snorkel adventure was by far one of the most fun and
exciting snorkeling trips we’ve had.
Hope you have enjoyed reading about all of our incredible
adventures in Panama thus far.
-Craig Stuart
