Enter the Dragon

 By Dennis Bolshakov

           Last week, the OTS Tropical Biology group went to the Bocas del Toro and Bocas del Drago regions in Panama. Arriving at midday on bus to the Caribbean coast, we unloaded our bags and placed them haphazardly onto a small boat, and got into another boat ourselves. That day, I glimpsed just a fraction of the beauty that is the sea: we rode quickly, bouncing gently on the waves while inhaling the fresh sea air. I did not touch the water, in fear of splashing everything and everyone on the boat, since even reaching into the water with my fingers creates a spray of water that expands behind me (I did however, test this thoroughly the following days).

The lifeguard, Ivan, looks out to sea on our first day of snorkeling.

            After a brief swimming and buoyancy test, we were good to go. Boating over to different areas surrounding Colon Island, we snorkeled through the reefs and mangroves that surround the island, like a cell wall and membrane. That first day was my favorite field day: partnering up with a friend and exploring the beautiful aquatic nature. The life was especially strange and wondrous to me, since we haven’t learned anything about the coral environment yet (except to avoid the fire coral!). Having only seen a few documentaries about the sea, I was bombarded with the new sights and sounds and smells of the shallow sea for the first time.

            During the following two days, we conducted an experiment with the damselfish as the focal species. Since damselfish are herbivorous yet highly territorial, we wanted to see if brackets of sea grass were less likely to be consumed close to the den of the fish where it would chase other fish away less, or further away. And so, we returned to the sites twice a day and hovered for ten minutes at each site, observing who and for how long the damselfish chase, and then collected part of the grass from the site to measure for herbivory later in the lab. Watching the fish chase others was mildly entertaining, but the experience was definitely augmented by the picturesque setting. We are so lucky to have seen such a healthy and beautiful reef, especially now, what with coral bleaching affecting reefs all over the world. Admittedly, there were occasional beer and cola cans at the bottom here, which was sad to see.

The damselfish, our focal species among a bunch of coral, urchins, and brittle-stars.

           Every day, we returned to the Institute for Tropical Ecology and Restoration (ITEC) station on Colon Island by boating into a tunnel of mangrove trees and to the small harbor there. In this mangrove, we saw bats sleeping, great egrets preening, and even a small three-toed sloth gently moving towards the foliage. Upon arrival to the harbor, we washed all our equipment and then walked about a kilometer through pastureland, sometimes shooing away the cows and horses from the path. Back at the station, there was a library, a dining room, our rooms and the volleyball net. Breakfast at 7:30, lunch at noon, and dinner at six. The electric generator was turned on only when it was used for cooking or during the evenings, so there was limited access to the outside world, which suited me just fine. I spent much of my free time reading old issues of National Geographic and playing cards and darts with the rest of the group. The place definitely has a charm to it.

           Our last full day was similar to the first: we went to a reef and got to explore it for upwards of three hours. We saw rockfish, parrotfish, jackfish. Again, schools of iridescent fry were hiding in the mangrove roots, this time pestered by some bigger fish. There was a squad of squid, calmly undulating, changing color when darting away from us, and even inking one of the students. During the afternoon, we visited the town of Bocas Del Toro, to learn about how tourism affects local nature, culture, and economics. The town was surprisingly big, with its own airport and a main road with many grocery stores, tourist stands, and expensive bars. On land, we saw a sloth crossing the lawn, and took some photos of it while the poor thing was sitting, arms out, in a defensive pose the whole time. We also saw a boa constrictor snake more than a meter in length, which was exhilarating, and many small critters (and biting bugs!) during a night hike. The next morning, we all reluctantly packed our things onto a boat and left, and, much to our surprise, a small group of dolphin swam up to our boat, as if to say goodbye. It was a wonderful and educational trip.