I woke our guests up early this morning for a pre-breakfast walk at Punta Cormorant, Floreana – where there are no cormorants… The point was named after a small boat that ran aground here many years ago, and flightless cormorants are found only in the western-most islands of the Galapagos Archipelago. So today, instead of cormorants, we found blue-footed boobies, brilliant pink flamingoes, gorgeous red-billed tropic birds and several tiny Galapagos penguins!
After coffee, muffins and fresh tropical fruits we boarded the Zodiacs and disembarked on a greenish-brown beach where the naturalists showed us lovely tiny olivine crystals that make up the sand. Behind the beach over 60 flamingoes fed in a broad brackish lagoon. We hiked up onto a cindery hill and had a magnificent view across the lagoon and then continued on to a white sand beach that was streaked with the tracks of female sea turtles that had dragged themselves up the beach and nested during the night. Naturalist Jason counted 36 tracks, which means that 18 turtles spend 2-4 hours each digging vase shaped nest holes up to two feet deep and then dropped 60-80 eggs into these nest cavities! Lots of sand was moved last night while we were sleeping soundly on the National Geographic Islander!
We returned to the ship for a hearty and well deserved breakfast and afterwards took a Zodiac cruise around Champion Islet. The sea lions entertained us, we spotted a few of the endemic Floreana mocking birds in the distance, and we were impressed with the delicate beauty of the long tailed, glossy white red-billed tropic birds. Next on our agenda was a deep water snorkeling outing, so we wiggled into our wetsuits and headed out again to the coast of Champion. The snorkeling was at its absolute best today! Clear, warm water, a myriad of brightly colored fish (particularly stunning were the dozens of the King Angel fish with their orange tail, and deep purple body), white-tipped reef sharks, and sea turtles were seen by our guests. Sea lions cavorted and dove among us and every single one who went out returned with a smile on their face!
In the afternoon we visited Post Office Bay and left or took post cards in the time honored system. Then Jason took the kayakers along the Loberia islets and Celso and Antonio took Zodiac cruises. We all saw sea turtles, sea lions and rays – and, to our delight, some of us found a couple of the tiny endemic Galapagos penguins basking in the late golden light of the sun on a rocky outcrop. Penguins and flamingoes in the same day, on the same island - imagine! What an exciting and satisfying day we’ve had in these enchanted Galapagos Islands!
