While we were peacefully sleeping and just before midnight Captain Garces had our crew pull up the ship’s anchor and we navigated due west from Española to Floreana Island. As the sun rose I made an optional pre-breakfast wakeup call and many of our guests had a cup of coffee and some fruit in the lounge before heading out for a lovely walk at Punta Cormorant. By the way, no cormorants have ever been seen on Floreana; this point is named after a boat that ran aground here many years ago!
We boarded the Zodiacs at 0630, motored to shore, and landed on a greenish brown beach. The guides showed us tiny olivine crystals in the sand. Just behind the beach there were more than 40 brilliant pink flamingos feeding in a brackish water lagoon and several pintail ducks were floating and feeding there too. We hiked up a hill and enjoyed the view over the lagoon and then continued across to a fine white sand beach.
This white beach is a major sea turtle nesting area and indeed we saw the wide, deep tracks of many female turtles that had hauled themselves out of the ocean, crawled up the beach, and dug a nest during the night. The nesting process requires several hours of digging and the female turtles move meters of sand, so by the time a turtle is done dropping between 60 – 80 eggs into her nest cavity and covering them, she is exhausted. She drags herself back down the beach, into the cool ocean, and swims away.
After a hearty breakfast we explored Champion Islet via Zodiac and got glimpses of the endemic Floreana mockingbird. We admired the elegant red-billed tropicbirds that nest in lava caves on the cliffs of Champion, and as always, we watched the endearing sea lions! We headed back to the ship to wiggle into our wetsuits and the snorkeling this morning was fantastic! We swam among hundreds of fish of a dozen species and some of us saw sea turtles, sharks, and sea lions. The water clarity was fabulous and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the warm water!
In the afternoon after siesta I gave a presentation about Charles Darwin and then we went to shore for some human history at the post office barrel. Many of us left post cards and several found cards that they could hand deliver once they get back home. Finally, to wrap up anther full and interesting day, we chose between paddling the kayaks or cruise in the Zodiacs among the Loberia Islets. I took those who wanted some “down time” back to the ship. The kayakers and Zodiac riders had a marvelous outing and saw spotted eagle rays, sea turtles, baby sharks, various sea birds and of course – more sea lions! The ocean was clam, the late afternoon pleasantly cool, and it was a wonderful end to a great day on the National Geographic Islander!
