Here he is: Señor Iguana! While on a trail in the Isla Iguana Wildlife Refuge, we came up this fella "tanning" himself, and he did not move until we were right next to him. Such confidence!
Aside from iguanas and frigate birds, there were THOUSANDS of hermit crabs crawling along, especially on the beach. When we first landed, it looked as though the beach was running away from us! Upon closer inspection, it was simply these little guys running from us humanoid invaders; apparently, they were not as confident as the iguana.
The last interesting thing about this island was its former status as a bomb testing area during World War II. In the '90s, a remaining bomb was detonated, destroying some 8,000 square feet of coral, which took 8 to 10 years to grow back. Unfortunately, the picture I took of one of the giant holes left by a detonation was corrupted. :-/
Due to the fact that I was unable to get off the boat at Parque Nacional Coiba, I do not have any pictures of it...maybe the second time around, I will get some time there.
The next location that we arrived at was Isla Canal de Afuera, which is also known for its coral environments and, of course, white beaches, similar to the one below...
At this location, I joined the guests aboard the ship to the beach, where they snorkeled out to the coral. Luckily, I did not swim where they did, because everyone seemed to get stung by hydroids, which are little creatures related to jellyfish. Instead, I got to see schools of multi-colored fish...blues, greens, purples...the list goes on and on. I wish I had a GoPro to capture these beautiful, underwater sights (in due time, I guess).
On Thursday, I had my first day off, which was incredible! I played tourist all day and disembarked from the ship TWICE!! The first location was Playa Caletas, and I can now check off one more thing from my lifetime list: riding a horse! His name was Congo and he did not enjoy having me on his back, but we made it through the journey.
The guests and I followed Christian (the expedition leader) on a ride, ending up at the beautiful Punta Río Claro...
...where I managed to snap a shot of a caterpillar climbing up his silky rope. *cue Mission: Impossible theme song*
The second location that I was able to play tourist at was Parque Nacional Corcovado, where the guests and I were led by a guide up a beautiful river to a waterfall (both pictured below). We all took a dip in a small pond along the river. So refreshing after experiencing that humidity!
The ship has anchored in a few more places, like Manuel Antonio and Herradura Bay. Now, we have off-loaded the first group of guests, loaded the next group and are on our way back to Panama City. We will do this leg three more times before heading up to Baja.
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