Punta Cormorant and Post Office Bay
Floreana Island was named after the first Ecuadorian president: Flores. It has other names too; its English name, Charles, and its Spanish name, Santa Maria. But the island is locally known as Mystery Island. Being the first inhabited island, the history of the Galápagos Islands started being written here. The Irish, English, and Spanish visited Floreana for centuries. Norwegians came to live in this island in the early 1900’s. Germans became part of the mysteries with some characters disappearing in the stories of Floreana.
We had options for everybody today, starting early with a fast hike to explore Cormorant Point. A trail took us from an inorganic sandy beach through the dry zone of vegetation, and finally to a white beach. On the way we spotted some flamingos in a brackish water lagoon. This lagoon was the place for our other option: photography. We walked to the lagoon, got our cameras ready and wait patiently for the flamingos to get closer with their reflections for the perfect shot.
We all came back to get ready for our water activities. Snorkeling and glass bottom boat were accompanied by playful sea lions and thousands of fish. We found our third species of mocking bird for the week: The Floreana mocking bird.
This afternoon after kayaking and Zodiac riding we became part of the story of the islands by using the oldest post office in the pacific, the emblematic barrel. Set by whalers in 1972, this barrel has been communicating to the world successfully with only one rule: you have to hand delivered the news that you take with you! We left some news for our beloved ones, and we took some news to be hand delivered by others, continuing with this story.
