Floreana Island was named after the first president of Ecuador, Juan José Flores. This little enchanted place in the archipelago has been communicating with the world for centuries. Whalers and buccaneers from the 1700’s and 1800’s found that in the highlands of Floreana there was a little source of fresh water and a great source of food too - giant tortoises. Since then Floreana has been an important common stopping place. In 1972 the English Captain James Colnett came to study the possibilities of establishing a whaling harbor in Galápagos, which didn’t happen in the end. But after his visit we found in maps the first Post Office system in the Pacific! A hidden barrel!
Today we visited this magical island, and the day was outstanding! From early in the morning when we found flamingos and a nesting sea turtle at Punta Cormorant, to our snorkeling which had a great visibility, millions of fish, and playful sea lions who stole the show! About 300 dolphins came to our encounter while navigating; and finally we visited the historic post office barrel! And then a surprise for me! Every trip I open the door of the barrel to find hundreds of postcards from all over the world, but today something was different…a bottle! I thought, a message in a bottle! When I pulled it out I found a little bottle of honey left by a visitor to be picked up by somebody and enjoyed by somebody else. Well tomorrow the natural honey from Marshalls Farm in CA, found in the post office barrel today, is going to be enjoyed in breakfast by the naturalists of the National Geographic Islander! The barrel keeps on communicating the world after centuries.
