Floreana Island
This Island has been very well known for centuries by many explorers because of its good opportunities to collect water and a food source: giant tortoises. These giants were able to live with no water and food for over a year and that fact made them an easy prey for visitors of this archipelago.
This Island was also the first island to be colonized by Ecuadorian people early in the 1900s. When Charles Darwin visited Galapagos in 1835, he mentioned that many of the endemic and native species of Galapagos were going to be extinct in the near future, because he saw the problems of introduced animals causing a big impact to the whole ecosystem. If Charles Darwin were still alive he would be very happy to see 95% of the endemic and native species still roaming in the wild in Galapagos.
The local governments have been working very hard for many decades to protect this unique paradise for future generations to come.
Today was a very intense day from sunrise to sunset; we started our activities with an optional activity before breakfast, we disembarked on a green volcanic beach to hike to the windward side to see a pacific green sea turtles nesting ground in a white sandy beach, the whole sand dune was covered with depressions, a sign that thousands of baby turtles will emerge very soon.
Later in the morning we went out snorkeling at Champion Island because this place is one of the best sites for fish identification, we also explored around this small island onboard our Zodiacs to look for the elusive Floreana mocking bird, while other preferred to explore the underwater world on board our glass bottom boat.
In the afternoon we had different activities on the same island but in a different location. We started with two rounds of kayakers, followed with Zodiac rides along some islets which are part of Floreana Island, and we even had some time to visit the famous post office barrel, which was used by whalers over a century ago as a link of communication with their families.
From the beginning of our day we started with many challenges, and now everybody is happy because we had a great day together with blue footed boobies, pelicans, Galapagos sea lions, Galapagos penguins, marine iguanas, lots of fish and many other great sightings that fill our hearts with happiness.
