The southernmost island in the Galapagos, Floreana is also known as “Mystery Island” for the occurrences of mysterious events during the early days of its colonization.
Before breakfast we headed onto the beach for a short hike through a greenish-brown sandy beach with some olivine crystal and a brackish water lagoon with greater flamingoes, noble inhabitants of this paradise usually in the company of pintail ducks and black-necked stilts.
The trail ended at a white coralline sandy beach where sea turtles nest throughout the year and where diamond rays are concentrated by the hundreds along the shore under the breaking waves while sally lightfoot crabs splash the dark lava with color.
Back onboard for breakfast we started to navigate shortly to a small Island called Champion where we disembarked for a Zodiac rides in search of interesting wildlife such as sea lions, boobies, swallow tailed gulls, brown noddies, red billed tropic birds and others like an elusive bird called Chatham mockingbird which became extinct on the main island due to predation by introduced animals.
We came back on board to get ready for another exciting activity, snorkeling at one of the best destinations to do so as large schools of fish are found, to mention just a few: parrot fishes, king angel fishes, invertebrates, echinoderms, even sharks showed up! But what we enjoyed the best was swimming with sea lions which entertained us almost all throughout the session. Great morning!
Post office Bay is another place on Floreana open to visitors. Here people learn about the interesting human history of the island. They can also take and leave letters in the way whalers and others used to centuries ago. No need for stamps!
To finish the day we embarked on a Zodiac ride around some islets near the coast of Floreana with plenty of wildlife: turtles, sea lions, marine iguanas and birds. The landscape here is outstanding too!
