Floreana Island has a very rich human history in the Galapagos that began when the Ecuadorian government sat a penal colony in the early 1800s. Convicts from mainland Ecuador were sent to Floreana with terrible consequences. In 1835 one of the most famous visitors in Galapagos also sat foot on the Island, Charles Darwin. The history of the Island continues when in the early 19th century some European settlers came to the Island with not much success and a lot of mystery. Even now, Floreana’s population is only about two hundred people.
Today we spent the entire day on the Island, visiting some historical places, with little evidence of the human impact on the Island. Our guides shared the fact that there was a big impact of domestic animals left behind on the Island by the first settlers and the Galapagos National Park has been trying to eradicate the animals which were introduced. We don’t know how long it may take, but we will continue protecting this oceanic archipelago for future generations to come.
This morning we disembarked in Punta Cormorant. This visitor site has one of the easiest trails in Galapagos, with a big brackish lagoon and a Pacific green sea turtle’s nesting beach. This morning the lagoon could not have been more spectacular. Flamingos were feeding, blue herons were hunting and frigates were trying to steal some food from others species. Along the beach we also saw evidence that females turtles were nesting the previous night.
We continued our program with snorkeling in a parasitic Volcano off the coast of Floreana Island, known as Champion. Before we went for water activities we decided to do a Zodiac ride to enjoy its cliff formation. There were lots of soaring birds such as blue footed boobies, frigates, boobies, pelicans, tropic birds and playful Galapagos sea lions which accompanied us during this activity. The conditions for snorkeling were almost perfect and we spotted almost 30 species of fish including rays and sharks and of course Galapagos sea lions.
In the afternoon we visited another famous visitor site known as post office barrel. Here we learned about the history of this place and the importance of the barrel during whaling times and then we finished our day with two rounds of kayaking and beach activities under the beautiful Galapagos sun.
