It is our third day of exploration around the enchanted islands of Galapagos. Today we got up early for a walk on Cormorant Point. The walk was for avid nature lovers as well as those interested in photography. Our adventure started at a greenish inorganic beach with coarse sand made of olivine, a crystal common in basalt formation and some other pieces of basalt, cinders and shells. After a medium-short walk along a smooth path winding through a dry landscape we spotted many land birds like flycatchers and finches. We ended at a completely different beach, here the sand is fine, almost flowery and white. The primary material here is calcium carbonate; the left-over product of coral colonies and ground shells. Just behind the highest tide mark, embedded in low dunes we see few tracks made by some female green sea turtles. This beach is an important nesting site for green pacific marine turtles in the archipelago.
We headed back to the beach and we took another path that took us to a pretty big brackish water lagoon. There we found some greater flamingos so close to us. For photographers it was a highlight, we spent some time there taking many pictures from different angles. Some pintails and stilts were seen too. After having fun here we went back to our ship to have breakfast while our captain moved our ship to another location called Champion Islet.
Once there, we had several choices: a glass bottom boat, a Zodiac ride to see a unique endemic Floreana mockingbirds and more. During our circumnavigation around we spotted two mockingbirds! Why are they so important to us? Well! They are in danger of extinction; we have few dozen of them. At Floreana Island many years ago feral cats were found, plus other introduced mammals like goats. They caused the extinction of these birds from Floreana, and now few survivals live in Champion and Enderby islets, so our goal is to reproduce them in captivity in the next years and to re-introduce these emblematic birds back in their original island.
After our successful Zodiac ride we headed out for snorkeling. At this point the sunlight comes nearly straight from above and with hardly a cloud in sight we have the perfect lighting to marvel at the colorful reef fish and other organisms like sea stars and corals. Sea lions frolic around us to complete the fun.
In the afternoon we anchor at Post Office Bay. It is a calm anchorage at the lee side of Floreana, where you can still see the remnants of a fresh water creek. This is probably the reason that the bay got marked on earlier maps as a good site to refit a ship after a long voyage. This tradition was kept until the whaling era, and it is probably then that sailors planted an empty barrel as a makeshift post-office. Nowadays we still use it that way, and we have fun listening to the addresses and anticipating our own mail delivery, for tradition demands it that we hand deliver any mail taken from this barrel.
We end the day with a Zodiac ride, a swim or a relaxing moment on the beach, enjoying a blue sky and a calm ocean. A clean sunset promised us more adventure tomorrow, but right now most of us are so full of new impressions that the night seems more welcome than ever.
