Floreana Island
The day began with an early morning trip to the local post office – an old post barrel with a mail swap tradition that dates back to the whaling days. If you see a letter addressed to someone who lives near you, the tradition is to deliver it to them by hand. Today’s batch of mail found three post cards headed to Wisconsin.
Then we boarded our pangas (or Zodiacs) again and sliced through the clear waters while sea lions danced all around us. We soon spotted a Galápagos great blue heron perched on top of a black mangrove tree with the great blue sky above. We rounded the bend and suddenly came upon multiple mating colonies of sea lions. Each cozy cove is guarded by a dominant male patrolling the waters and protecting his territory. We learned from our knowledgeable naturalist that behind every proud male bull there is a harem of females – in some cases up to fifty members.
After a hardy breakfast, we set out to Champion Islet for deep-water snorkeling. We swam with playful and curious sea lions, admired the quiet gracefulness of a Spotted Eagle Ray, and marveled at the schools of brilliantly colored fish passing by. Our mission from our National Geographic expert was to identify a fish we hadn’t yet seen this week – there were many new faces including a yellow Guineafowl Puffer, a giant Finescale Triggerfish, and a beautiful pair of Moorish Idols.
Following snorkeling, we loaded onto our water taxis in search of the elusive Floreana mockingbird. It is believed that only 100 pairs of mockingbirds remain on the island and we were lucky enough to witness one busy couple frolicking in the cacti.
This afternoon included more deep-water snorkeling at Devil’s Crown and then a walk at Punta Cormorant. We hiked to a placid lagoon and found pink flamingos feeding on brine shrimp and nesting in neighboring rocks. We continued down the trail to what is known as the flower beach. Many sea turtle nests lay just beyond the top of the dunes, including one that still had tracks from the previous night’s digging.
Later, we kicked off our final evening on the Islander with a festive farewell reception and dinner. The festivities included lots of toasts and a few Ecuadorian songs. The perfect day was completed by a perfect ending – a couple of sea lions flipping in the water in the back of the boat to the sounds of samba.
The day began with an early morning trip to the local post office – an old post barrel with a mail swap tradition that dates back to the whaling days. If you see a letter addressed to someone who lives near you, the tradition is to deliver it to them by hand. Today’s batch of mail found three post cards headed to Wisconsin.
Then we boarded our pangas (or Zodiacs) again and sliced through the clear waters while sea lions danced all around us. We soon spotted a Galápagos great blue heron perched on top of a black mangrove tree with the great blue sky above. We rounded the bend and suddenly came upon multiple mating colonies of sea lions. Each cozy cove is guarded by a dominant male patrolling the waters and protecting his territory. We learned from our knowledgeable naturalist that behind every proud male bull there is a harem of females – in some cases up to fifty members.
After a hardy breakfast, we set out to Champion Islet for deep-water snorkeling. We swam with playful and curious sea lions, admired the quiet gracefulness of a Spotted Eagle Ray, and marveled at the schools of brilliantly colored fish passing by. Our mission from our National Geographic expert was to identify a fish we hadn’t yet seen this week – there were many new faces including a yellow Guineafowl Puffer, a giant Finescale Triggerfish, and a beautiful pair of Moorish Idols.
Following snorkeling, we loaded onto our water taxis in search of the elusive Floreana mockingbird. It is believed that only 100 pairs of mockingbirds remain on the island and we were lucky enough to witness one busy couple frolicking in the cacti.
This afternoon included more deep-water snorkeling at Devil’s Crown and then a walk at Punta Cormorant. We hiked to a placid lagoon and found pink flamingos feeding on brine shrimp and nesting in neighboring rocks. We continued down the trail to what is known as the flower beach. Many sea turtle nests lay just beyond the top of the dunes, including one that still had tracks from the previous night’s digging.
Later, we kicked off our final evening on the Islander with a festive farewell reception and dinner. The festivities included lots of toasts and a few Ecuadorian songs. The perfect day was completed by a perfect ending – a couple of sea lions flipping in the water in the back of the boat to the sounds of samba.
