Today our adventure onboard the National Geographic Endeavour brought us to Punta Cormorant, on Floreana Island. This island is known as the “mystery Island”, and centuries ago it was a home pirates, whalers, buccaneers and the first colony of Ecuadorians.
We had an early outing before breakfast. We went for a hike, it was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining, and it was warm and pleasant. This visitor site has a salt water lagoon, and today we encountered a good number of greater flamingos, over forty of them were seen and even young flamingos were spotted. But the day had only just started, and soon we saw blue-footed boobies displaying their famous mating dance, showing us their gorgeous blue feet! What a delight to see them so close!
We continued our hike to the other side of Punta Cormorant, at the white sandy beach where the next surprise was awaiting: many Pacific green sea turtles were in the water very close to the shore, and several of them were mating. Stranded at the beach, a female sea turtle was resting, exhausted from laying eggs the previous night. Our guests came back onboard with big smiles, full of memories and amazing pictures.
After a well-deserved breakfast, the ship was repositioned towards Champion Islet. Zodiac rides were offered around the small islet, in order to observe sea birds and the rare Floreana mockingbird. Other options were offered as well, including glass-bottom boat rides, for our non-snorkelers guests—this way, they were able to experience the underwater world of the Galapagos through the explanations from our Naturalists, without getting wet! And last but not least, drift snorkeling was in our program. As a naturalist, I am always excited about this snorkeling site. The conditions here can be very changeable, it is indeed a demanding snorkeling outing, but a very rewarding one! As we entered into the water, we enjoyed how excellent visibility, and a huge school of fish surrounded us. So much plankton was at the surface that we had to swim through the schools of creole and sergeant major fish, so close to our faces. We had to be very careful to move slowly, so as not to scare them. Soon our attention was captured by several sea lions who appeared, moving quickly through the water, so agile and curious. We also spotted several white tip reef sharks, spotted eagle rays and pacific green sea turtles! What a fantastic start to our day, and it was not even lunchtime yet!
We repositioned the ship towards the next destination, Post Office Bay. The outings offered here included two rounds of kayaking, Zodiac rides around la loberia, and a visit to the barrel in order to exchange postcards, keeping the old sailors tradition alive. Our guests enjoyed a more relaxed afternoon, taking a short hike to observe wildlife, learning about the unique human history of the Galapagos along the way. It was a lovely outing, thanks to great weather conditions.
As soon as all the guests were back onboard, we pulled anchor and sailed towards Santa Cruz Island, tomorrow’s destination. This unique experience is to be continued....
