Iguana Island Wildlife Refuge
PedasÃ, Gulf of Panama, Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean
Station 15:
The Little Beach of the Lighthouse
Location
Go down the coast to the Playita del Faro. Be careful, the rocks wet from the tide seem safe but are very slippery. It's a good place to take a dip and cool off from the heat of the trail. BEWARE: this beach gets deep very quickly and there are sometimes hangovers. Avoid bathing alone, do not stray from the shore and do not neglect children.
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The Playita del Faro is surrounded by basalt and dense vegetation
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View from the Lighthouse. 2003.
On the opposite basaltic wall you will see Lilies that bloom in March and April, when the rains begin, which give a touch of freshness to the landscape.
Sea turtles do not nest on Iguana Island. They can be seen underwater frequently
In 20 years of research only four (4) nests were recorded. One on El Cirial beach, next to the ranch, and three on the Faro beach. This is not enough to consider these to be nesting beaches.
However, four (4) species of turtles can be seen swimming or mating around the island or diving in all the coral communities around the island.
Argelis, the Queen of Cirial, is a Hawksbill turtle that permanently inhabits the El Cirial reef. The first time we saw it was in 1989. We have seen it grow and we can distinguish it by the scar from a bite of a shark in the part of behind its shell, on the right side.
