Gorgona description

GORGONA National  Natural Park

Located at 35 km to the west of Colombian pacific coast (2° 58′ 10″ N, 78° 11′ 05 W″), Gorgona is a continental island of volcanic origin, 9 km length, 2.5 km width and  has an area of 2600 hectares.

It was discovered in the XV century by explorers who sailed from Panama with the mission to find the Inca empire. In spite of difficult environmental conditions when approaching to the island, it was used to get provisions, especially water, due to abundant fresh water creeks. In the XVII and XVIII century Gorgona became a pirate’s base, who took advantage of the strategic position to sack ships in route from Peru to Panama, and later on, take over routes between Mexico and the Philippines. After many years of being used as a prison (1960-1983) in 1984 the island was declared a National Natural Park.

It is believed that the main reason to name the island as Gorgona was because of the hard conditions explorers had to deal with. So, in Greek mythology, Gorgona refers to a female monster that petrifies whoever has visual contact with. One other version, is that Gorgona is associated with the word in Spanish “engorgonado” which was a term used by sailors when a ship was stuck in a whirpool.

Gorgona is mainly influenced by the oceanic Peruvian current, Humbolt current, Peru countercurrent, Cromwell current and the north equatorial countercurrent. Gorgona is rich environmentally speaking and that makes it a perfect place for divers. There is an enormous variety of marine species in Gorgona. Visitors enjoy scuba diving with whale shark, white tip shark, jacks, snappers, morays, rays, turtles, giant mantas, groupers and from june to October the humpback whale.