Floreana Island
This morning we had an early rise at 6:00 am with the amazing landscape of Floreana, its green cinder cones and some beautiful mist surrounding the highest points of the island. We went to visit the the first mail system in South America at a site named Post Office Barrel were we deposited our postcards, later we visited a beautiful sea lions colony known as “La Loberia.” As we arrived to the island I got conscience about the first settlers of the island who formed a penal colony after a decision from an Ecuadorian general to take possession of the islands on 1832. The general was Jose de Villamil who had the permission of Juan Jose Flores, the first president of Ecuador (the island’s Floreana name was given after him). These prisoners had to make a living by collecting rainwater from the island, fishing and growing some crops.
After a well deserved breakfast at 9:00 am our guests went to snorkel at Champion Islet were they had the opportunity to swim with the sea lions and play with them. Another group went to explore Champion Islet where they found several Charles Mockingbird, the only remaining group of these mockingbirds in the world.
After a well deserved lunch the ship sailed around to the northern side of the island to a site known as “Punta Cormorant”. Some guests went to the beach to sit and relax and others went to snorkel at Devil’s Crown, the remains of a broken crater. Later on the walk along the isthmus of Punta Cormorant we found a fantastic view of a brackish water lagoon with dozens of flamingos, even a small flamingo chick on its nest. Later, it was a surprise when we found some wild goats walking down hill around a lava flow next to the cinder cones.
On our way back to the ship we had an interesting presentation about the Galápagos Conservation Fund and then we had a very good barbecue at the upper deck under the stars. It was another day full of adventures on the Islander!
This morning we had an early rise at 6:00 am with the amazing landscape of Floreana, its green cinder cones and some beautiful mist surrounding the highest points of the island. We went to visit the the first mail system in South America at a site named Post Office Barrel were we deposited our postcards, later we visited a beautiful sea lions colony known as “La Loberia.” As we arrived to the island I got conscience about the first settlers of the island who formed a penal colony after a decision from an Ecuadorian general to take possession of the islands on 1832. The general was Jose de Villamil who had the permission of Juan Jose Flores, the first president of Ecuador (the island’s Floreana name was given after him). These prisoners had to make a living by collecting rainwater from the island, fishing and growing some crops.
After a well deserved breakfast at 9:00 am our guests went to snorkel at Champion Islet were they had the opportunity to swim with the sea lions and play with them. Another group went to explore Champion Islet where they found several Charles Mockingbird, the only remaining group of these mockingbirds in the world.
After a well deserved lunch the ship sailed around to the northern side of the island to a site known as “Punta Cormorant”. Some guests went to the beach to sit and relax and others went to snorkel at Devil’s Crown, the remains of a broken crater. Later on the walk along the isthmus of Punta Cormorant we found a fantastic view of a brackish water lagoon with dozens of flamingos, even a small flamingo chick on its nest. Later, it was a surprise when we found some wild goats walking down hill around a lava flow next to the cinder cones.
On our way back to the ship we had an interesting presentation about the Galápagos Conservation Fund and then we had a very good barbecue at the upper deck under the stars. It was another day full of adventures on the Islander!
