Today we had an early start as Floreana is a place that you want to explore as much as possible. We disembarked at 6:30 and just the disembarkation area made it worth it! We had just set foot on the greenish-brown sandy beach of Cormorant Point, when two Galapagos penguins came to our encounter. What a joy for our guests! Later, after having an argument with an alpha male sea lion who decided to sleep in the middle of our trail, we arrived to a brackish lagoon where we spotted several shore birds including one colorful great flamingo at the distance.
Floreana Island is unique also for the endemic flora it has. We found the Floreana daisy and one species of scalesia: The Hairy Scalesia. On the other side of the island we found a beautiful white sandy beach where dozens of stingrays were swimming. We could observe as well how some green Pacific sea turtles were coming back from nesting to the water. This was all before breakfast.
Later on we visited a small island called Champion for a Zodiac ride and snorkeling. During the Zodiac ride we went looking for the very rare Floreana mockingbird. This species is on the list of endangered species, as its population has disappeared in Floreana Island, but a small number survives in the two satellites islets in its surroundings. Then we came back to get ready for snorkeling, definitely a highlight of this week! We saw reef sharks sleeping in the bottom, some sea lions, and hundreds of colorful fish. The light was perfect, the temperature of the water as well. What else could we asked for?
This afternoon, after a very interesting talk about Charles Darwin, we visited historical Post Office Bay and learned the stories around this emblematic barrel. And we joined the tradition by taking some news to hand deliver them at home.
We were then ready for our next activity. Some guests went kayaking, some explored the shores from Zodiacs, and both groups had a blast. Blue-footed boobies, herons, sea lions, rays and turtles! What a day! What an island!
