Floreana Island
The early visit to the historical Post office bay was just the beginning of a remarkable series of experiences for today’s program. After investing half an hour to go through the whole bag full of post cards and letters, it finally paid off when some of our guests decided to carry on the tradition and hand deliver some of them back home. This was the mailing system for whalers, buccaneers and privateers that were traveling on this waters long time ago.
Right after the historical experience, our captain repositioned the ship to the eastern side of Floreana Island to a place called champion. This was the area chosen mainly for water activities and Zodiac rides, and speaking of snorkeling, this outing turned out to be the best of the entire week! The day looked a little grey, but by the time we jumped into the water the sun was already out and intense, making the visibility of the water at least a hundred feet deep. Thousands of Creole fish were forming a dark grey “carpet” at the bottom, while white-tipped reef sharks appeared through the schools of fish just a few feet away from us! Sea lions decided to do a ballet performance, making us feel silly to be in an element that we do not master as they do. They are the most acrobatic of the animals that I have ever seen, twisting and contorting their bodies when trying to catch their meal.
After lunch we headed for a hike searching for flamingoes in their natural habitats, and of course we succeeded! Just behind a small green sandy beach there was a brackish water lagoon where we saw our pinkish friends. Some of them decided to trust us and came really close to the shore that we could even see their mirror-like reflection effect on the water. A time of total silence was ideal to hear the natural and different sounds that one can hear over this area, and it turned out to be a very spiritual experience. Just a moment of silence changed the whole perspective of our visit and allowed us to appreciate even more the special moment in our lives that we are living right now.
On the way back to the ship we were thinking about the special time we shared as a group and how beautiful the sunset was as it slowly disappeared in the horizon…
The early visit to the historical Post office bay was just the beginning of a remarkable series of experiences for today’s program. After investing half an hour to go through the whole bag full of post cards and letters, it finally paid off when some of our guests decided to carry on the tradition and hand deliver some of them back home. This was the mailing system for whalers, buccaneers and privateers that were traveling on this waters long time ago.
Right after the historical experience, our captain repositioned the ship to the eastern side of Floreana Island to a place called champion. This was the area chosen mainly for water activities and Zodiac rides, and speaking of snorkeling, this outing turned out to be the best of the entire week! The day looked a little grey, but by the time we jumped into the water the sun was already out and intense, making the visibility of the water at least a hundred feet deep. Thousands of Creole fish were forming a dark grey “carpet” at the bottom, while white-tipped reef sharks appeared through the schools of fish just a few feet away from us! Sea lions decided to do a ballet performance, making us feel silly to be in an element that we do not master as they do. They are the most acrobatic of the animals that I have ever seen, twisting and contorting their bodies when trying to catch their meal.
After lunch we headed for a hike searching for flamingoes in their natural habitats, and of course we succeeded! Just behind a small green sandy beach there was a brackish water lagoon where we saw our pinkish friends. Some of them decided to trust us and came really close to the shore that we could even see their mirror-like reflection effect on the water. A time of total silence was ideal to hear the natural and different sounds that one can hear over this area, and it turned out to be a very spiritual experience. Just a moment of silence changed the whole perspective of our visit and allowed us to appreciate even more the special moment in our lives that we are living right now.
On the way back to the ship we were thinking about the special time we shared as a group and how beautiful the sunset was as it slowly disappeared in the horizon…
