Humpbacks, Boobies and Sea Kayaking

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Today’s adventure began with a drive east on the Pacific coast of Panama on the Pan American highway.  On the way we stopped at a roadside vendor to buy rambutan fruits:

Our goal was Chiriqui Bay, where we boarded our ocean-going boat:

We went about 45 minutes out to sea in that vessel, to a group of islands where humpback females come to give birth in the early summer.  One of the islands has a rookery for blue-footed boobies, which we saw in abundance:

We also saw Frigate Birds and American Oystercatchers among others.  Our search for humpback whales was quite successful, but photographing them is not easy.  They are truly enormous:

Here’s a mother and baby:

Here’s one spouting:

Here’s one diving, showing its unique tail:

And here’s a photo of the only leap we saw which I didn’t catch.  This photo was taken by our driver with his cell phone:

After about an hour of whale and booby watching we cruised to an island with a beautiful fine sandy beach and much shade under coconut palms, where we were set up in comfortable chairs with a table (with tablecloth, of course) and snacks. 

We swam for a while, and we had a hammock set up for us which Joyce enjoyed very much:

After a while lunch was served:

While we had lunch, our boat captain went off to an adjacent island and returned with sea kayaks, so after lunch, while Joyce enjoyed the hammock some more, Oren and I kayaked across the channel to another island and returned:

In the late afternoon we packed up and returned to the mainland.

Oren has been eating adventurously.  Last night for his main course he had grilled octopus, and tonight he had suckling pig.  It may be a difficult transition back to his vegetarian home!

Tomorrow morning we have a hike in the cloud forest, and then back to David City for a flight to Panama City.  We fly home from Panama City to Rochester on Thursday.