Floreana Island
As we pulled into the calm anchorage at Post Office Bay this morning, first officer Byron called me by radio from the bridge. “Ballenas en la Bahia!” he announced excitedly. I rushed to the bow and could see there were humpbacks lazing in the shallows not far from shore. I had promised an optional early wake up call, but with the huge cetaceans so close to us and the Zodiacs quickly in the water, I made a ship wide PA broadcast so that everyone knew we had whales off the starboard bow.
Our guests were fast out of bed and into the Zodiacs; some of the crew joined us, too. We spent an amazing 40 minutes motoring close to two adult humpbacks and a playful, wrinkled calf. The youngster lifted his head and looked at us, rolled on his mother’s back, floated with his pale stomach and long white fins exposed and then did an exuberant triple breach! We “oohhhed” and “ahhhhed” and snapped countless photos; we felt privileged to hear the powerful exhaling of the leviathans, and we finally reluctantly headed into shore for the planned visit to Post Office Bay. Naturalist Daniel and Captain Pablo dove with the whales and to all our delight, they managed to get a short segment for our video chronicle of this week’s voyage.
Humpbacks arrive to Galápagos only during the months of July to September. These animals have traveled from the far south where they feed; they give birth here in the tropics and then return to their feeding grounds. These three whales, probably two females and the calf, were seen last week in this area, and we will certainly look again for them next week!
At the Post Office we searched through the mail and several guests found postcards with addresses near their homes. They will hand deliver them when they reach the US. We had a wonderful breakfast and the ship re-anchored to the east of Floreana, at Champion Islet. Here we took a Zodiac cruise and spied the rare Floreana mocking bird and also blue-footed boobies, red-billed tropic birds and the ever present sea lions. Three Zodiacs of snorkelers swam among friendly, playful sea lions and schools of fish in the clear but chilly waters off Champion and had a blast!
In the afternoon we took turns kayaking in the bay off Punta Cormorant. We watched plunge diving boobies drop like arrows around us, and saw sea turtles peacefully floating on a clam blue sea. Later we all disembarked on a lovely greenish olivine beach and hiking past a brackish lagoon where brilliant pink flamingoes fed on brine shrimp; we climbed a rise and descended to a fine white sand beach. This beach is a favorite nesting area for sea turtles and we could see the numerous deep depressions left by the female who had dug nest chambers during the previous months. Now the nests are beginning to hatch and we watched hungry frigate birds dip down to grab a few hapless hatchling turtles that had come up out of their nests to the surface on the sand before dark.
The three humpback whales were surfacing and blowing off the white beach; we were thrilled to have another chance to see these magnificent creatures. As the sun set we returned to the ship to watch the video preview, eat a barbecue dinner and dance to latin music before we wearily buy happily climbed into our bunks.
As we pulled into the calm anchorage at Post Office Bay this morning, first officer Byron called me by radio from the bridge. “Ballenas en la Bahia!” he announced excitedly. I rushed to the bow and could see there were humpbacks lazing in the shallows not far from shore. I had promised an optional early wake up call, but with the huge cetaceans so close to us and the Zodiacs quickly in the water, I made a ship wide PA broadcast so that everyone knew we had whales off the starboard bow.
Our guests were fast out of bed and into the Zodiacs; some of the crew joined us, too. We spent an amazing 40 minutes motoring close to two adult humpbacks and a playful, wrinkled calf. The youngster lifted his head and looked at us, rolled on his mother’s back, floated with his pale stomach and long white fins exposed and then did an exuberant triple breach! We “oohhhed” and “ahhhhed” and snapped countless photos; we felt privileged to hear the powerful exhaling of the leviathans, and we finally reluctantly headed into shore for the planned visit to Post Office Bay. Naturalist Daniel and Captain Pablo dove with the whales and to all our delight, they managed to get a short segment for our video chronicle of this week’s voyage.
Humpbacks arrive to Galápagos only during the months of July to September. These animals have traveled from the far south where they feed; they give birth here in the tropics and then return to their feeding grounds. These three whales, probably two females and the calf, were seen last week in this area, and we will certainly look again for them next week!
At the Post Office we searched through the mail and several guests found postcards with addresses near their homes. They will hand deliver them when they reach the US. We had a wonderful breakfast and the ship re-anchored to the east of Floreana, at Champion Islet. Here we took a Zodiac cruise and spied the rare Floreana mocking bird and also blue-footed boobies, red-billed tropic birds and the ever present sea lions. Three Zodiacs of snorkelers swam among friendly, playful sea lions and schools of fish in the clear but chilly waters off Champion and had a blast!
In the afternoon we took turns kayaking in the bay off Punta Cormorant. We watched plunge diving boobies drop like arrows around us, and saw sea turtles peacefully floating on a clam blue sea. Later we all disembarked on a lovely greenish olivine beach and hiking past a brackish lagoon where brilliant pink flamingoes fed on brine shrimp; we climbed a rise and descended to a fine white sand beach. This beach is a favorite nesting area for sea turtles and we could see the numerous deep depressions left by the female who had dug nest chambers during the previous months. Now the nests are beginning to hatch and we watched hungry frigate birds dip down to grab a few hapless hatchling turtles that had come up out of their nests to the surface on the sand before dark.
The three humpback whales were surfacing and blowing off the white beach; we were thrilled to have another chance to see these magnificent creatures. As the sun set we returned to the ship to watch the video preview, eat a barbecue dinner and dance to latin music before we wearily buy happily climbed into our bunks.
