Our two night three day visit to Coiba was wonderful (yet again!). Everytime I get there, I realise again why UNESCO has designated this a world natural heritage site. The place is just wonderful. We spent moust of our time snorkelling on granito de oro and near Playa blanca.

Giving our masks a rest at Granito de Oro

The islet was deserted, by humans that is, there was plenty of wildlife in the surrounding waters. Since pictures tell a lot more than words, I will keep it short.

We saw turtles

A turtle at a coral reef near Coiba

an octopus

One rather upset Octopus

Trevally (kingfish)

Kingfish hunting at the reef

And even a small whitetipped reefshark. Luckily, these sharks are not dangerous, they hunt at night for fish. During daytime, they may come to check you out but they also think that discretion is the better part of valour.

White-tipped reefshark

The next planned trip isin a few days(6-8 January) and if you would like to go to, contact us at www.hotelheliconiapanama.com.

The green and black poison-dart frog Dendrobates auratus

You may have heard that many amphibians are threatened by a fungal disease. The fungus Batrachochitrium dendrobatis is linked to dramatic declines in populations of amphibians. It appears that the fungus has been around for a long time, but only started to threaten amphibians in the last 15 years. No one knows why. Some speculate that the fungus has mutated into a more virulent one, while others think that climate changes favours the fungus. But it is certain that many populations of amphibians have declined and some species are now extinct.
The western side of the Azuero peninsula is home to a few dozen species of amphibians. The most common and obvious ones are the Cane toad, (Bufo marinus), the Tungara frog (Physalaemus pustulopsus)) and the milk frog (Phrynohyas venulosa). But there are also a few populations of the Green-and-black Poison dart frog (Dendrobates auratus). The poison-dart frog occurs mostly in the Cerro hoya National Park, but there are remnant populations in other areas. Apparently the poison-dart frogs are most sensitive to the fungal disease, while other species hardly suffer (well, I have to admit that it is difficult to imagine the Cane Toad being sensitive to anything at all, except maybe a sledge hammer).

Last week we had two Dutch guests, Alex and Patrick, who are very keen on frogs, especially poison-dart frogs, which also suffer most from the fungal disease. Alex and Patrick brought some test kits to check whether the fungus is also present on the western Azuero peninsula, especially in the poison-dart frogs. We first went to the Cerro Hoya but found no poison-dart frogs there. They do spread out during the rainy season, but we were (are) slightly worried that we did not find a single poison dart frog. The next day we went to another place, near Quebro. Here we did find the frogs and Alex and Patrick took samples from six frogs.

Alex and Patrick sampling and photographing Dendrobates auratus

Taking a sample means that they take a swab from the skin of the frog with a small ball of cotton. The frog is not hurt in any way and is released immediately after the sample has been taken. The swab is sent to the University of London for analysis. We hope to get results in about two months time

The Malena community has set up an association to protect the turtles that breed on their beach. Every day, or rather, every night and early morning, volunteers patrol the beach to check for turtle nests. The nests they find are dug out and the eggs are reburied in a turtle hatchery, where dogs, cats and poachers can not get at them. In this way, the people of Malena prevent virtually all egg mortality and generally some 90% of the eggs hatch.

When the small turtles hatch, they are released on the beach and accompanied until the water edge, preventing mortality from cats, dogs, ghost crabs and raccoons. But when they enter the water, the turtles are on their own.

Together with some guests we went on a very early patrol with the Malena communioty turtle patrol and were lucky enough to see a female Olive Ridley turtle come on the beach to lay eggs. On another day, we went to help release the turtle hatchlings, also in the early morning. This takes less luck, since the laying date of each nest is noted and we know that it takes 48-50 days for the eggs to hatch.

Last year the Malena turtle protection association released nearly 20,000 young turtles and it looks like they will release a similar number this year.

January to April are the best months for fishing. Yellowfin Tuna are the main attraction for fishermen. They arrive in the area around January, first mostly the smaller ones (20-30 kg), but as the season progresses, more and more large individuals, some weighing more than 100 kg, are present. Wahoo, Dorado and Sailfish are also common during this period. Closer in shore, you can catch Amber Jack, Sierra and numerous other fish.

However, I am more of a nature lover and bird watcher than a fisherman and on both occasions I was caught in a variation of the old fishermans dilemma. Not so much: fish or cut bait, but rather: fish or watch whales or watch birds or try to photograph dolphins… I tried to do it all, which probably explains why I only caught a nice Amber Jack and some Sierras.

But if you are serious about it, fishing here is great and I can recommend Jerry Higdon, our local captain and fishing guide.

The mayor of Mariato leads the Parade

 Many people were dressed in the traditional Panamanian rural festive dresses and all communities elected a princess to represent them at the festivities:

One of the princesses

  After the parade, the princesses performed a tradicional dance with their ‘caballeros’:

Traditional Dance