Floreana Island
The southern island of Floreana has a unique charm, and this morning its hilly outline was partially covered by mist. This island has been colonized by people on several occasions, and its human history is as colorful as it is mysterious. We found ourselves anchored at its northernmost point: Punta Cormorant. A green-tinged beach was our disembarkation point, the color of the sand due to its high contents of minute olivine crystals. We followed the trail venturing inland, walking through an area of deciduous flora where the most abundant species is the bare-leaved incense tree. Our path was crossed by a couple of striated herons, which were hunting their morning pray.
The trail led us to a beautiful white sand coralline beach, commonly known as the “flour beach.” This is a very important nesting site for the Pacific green sea turtle. High up on the beach are the sand dunes where a number of older nests, can be found. To our surprise, a female turtle was still on the sand after having laid her eggs throughout the night. We watched her make her way down slowly towards the waves to reach her home, the big wide Pacific Ocean.
It was still early in the morning when we set off for a Zodiac ride around the islet of Champion, offshore Floreana Island. This is one of the last habitats of the endemic Floreana mockingbird. This species occurred in the island in abundance, until human visitors accidentally introduced rats in this environment. A few individuals were spotted today flying over the magnificent prickly pear cacti.
Along the shores of Champion there were many marine species to be seen: Galápagos shearwaters, blue-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls and frigate birds. There was also time left to enjoy the surrounding waters and although it felt a little cold, our fearless snorkelers of today jumped in and were amused by the young and playful Galápagos sea lions that that swam around them.
After lunch and a short navigation, we reached the adjacent bay: Post Office. The afternoon was as enjoyable as the morning, as well as active: there was kayaking around a group of rocks named “La Loberia” with its small population of Galápagos sea lions; there was relaxing and swimming at a beautiful beach; a short Zodiac ride around the area including the so-called “penguin rock” and finally a visit to the Post Office barrel.
This is an ancient postal system first established in 1793 by a British whaling captain. Homebound ships would make this their last stop before leaving the Galápagos and their crew would take any letters deposited here by other sailors. The tradition is continued to this day by the many visitors to the islands, a tradition that was honored by many of our guests today.
A beautiful sunset followed, and the National Geographic Endeavour began its navigation towards our next destination and new adventures.
