marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
Octopus’s Garden in the Shade – Marine Life at OjoBIO

Octopus’s Garden in the Shade – Marine Life at OjoBIO

Home » Locations » Panama » Bocas Del Toro Province » Octopus’s Garden in the Shade – Marine Life at OjoBIO

As mentioned in our Bocas del Toro province posts, our Airbnb is a biodiversity wonderland! And the marine life at OjoBIO is no exception.

We have our own personal coral reef, which extends for 100s of meters in each direction from our dock. Probably more to be honest, but there is only so much ground you can cover when snorkeling without diving fins!

marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
A 5-minute walk from our Airbnb to the reef!

So with deference to Ringo Starr, let us take you on a tour of our “Octopus’s garden in the shade“ so you can appreciate the diversity of marine life at OjoBIO!

And as always, click on our pictures to magnify the images.

How We Got Our Pictures

Our gear to go snorkeling and get pictures isn’t all that sophisticated.

For our swimming clothes, we use spandex long sleeve swimming shirts to protect us from the sun, swimsuit bottoms, and water shoes.

For photos, we use a GoPro knockoff that has served us well: an Akaso Brave 7 action camera with a submersible case.

The actual snorkel gear is included with our Airbnb. Just a mask, but it is the kind where the snorkel is directly connected, so you can breathe through your nose. They also provide pool noodles, which are fantastic for keeping yourself horizontal when swimming in the reef shallows.

So much better than sucking on a tube. And the pool noodle really helps preserve your endurance.

Assuming you don’t have nasal issues, the nose snorkel is a much more comfortable way to breathe!

Yours truly, modeling our gear in use.

The Coral Reef

The actual reef itself is made up of a variety of different coral and sponges, as well as epiphytes, that provide habitat for many other species.

Here is a taste of what we saw.

marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
The white Branched Finger Coral that dominates the reef is very much alive. As is the young Giant Carribean Anemone.
Knobby Anemones were also seen living among the coral.
Massive Starlet Coral could get pretty big!
Numerous echinoderms, like this Cushion Sea Star, make their home here.
marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
Some Cushion Sea Stars had interesting color forms.
marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
Comb Sea Stars could be found in the seagrass sediment areas near the reef.
marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
Numerous reef urchins are among the coral, as well as this unidentified sea star.
Green sea urchins were also common, especially among the sea grasses.
We even found a couple of Long Spined Sea Urchins, which must have been 1 foot in diameter!
Donkey Dung Sea Cucumbers were extremely common here.
marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
Three Rowed Sea Cucumbers were also present (lower left) but were much harder to find.
marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
And Suenson’s Brittle Stars were often found among the sponges.
marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
Tube worms like these Split-crown Feather Dusters were common among the coral and dock pilings.
marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
But some of the tube worms were HUGE, like this Magnificent Feather Duster.
Most fish were hard to photograph well, due to their speed, size, or distance. But we got lucky with this Great Barracuda!
marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
If your eyes are sharp, you can see this young Baloonfish trying to hide.
This Bridled Burrfish was a little easier to see.
To the left of the sea star is a Scrawled Cowfish. See it?
How about now? Dead center frame. Click to enlarge!
marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
This Longnose Stingray was playing hard to get.
marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
You might be tempted to think that I am featuring the Giant Carribean Anenome in this picture. But really I want you to see the Yellowline Arrow Crab to the left. Had no idea it was even there when we took the shot!
Nice close-up of a Cone Snail.
Moon Jellies were frequent visitors. Largely harmless to humans.
Now and then, Comb Jellies made an appearance. Completely harmless.
marine life at ojobio two travel turtles
And finally, the caretaker of our reef garden, a Carribean Reef Octopus! Rhonda took this shot from the dock! If we were in the water it would have been long gone.
Boy, they can change color fast!

Those were our best shots, but we saw so much more! Sadly, conditions and luck played a big role in which photos came out and which didn’t.

Hopefully, we’ve given you a taste of what you can see in this magical place! The marine life at OjoBIO is something special.

Octopus’s garden indeed.

Until next time…

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