Floreana Island
The first ever inhabited island of the Galápagos, Floreana has a rich human history. The name Floreana was given to it by President Flores as his government took possession of the archipelago back in the eighteen hundreds and claimed it as part of Ecuadorian territory.
Post Office Bay, known to be the oldest mailing system in the Pacific, has been used since the late seventeen hundreds. It was set up by British sailors who were the most common visitors of the enchanted archipelago. The reason they came here was to provision themselves with Giant tortoise meat and fresh water. Charles Darwin himself has probably been the most memorable visitor, although during his time the island was known as Charles. It was here that in conversation he heard the vice governor saying that “he could tell where the tortoises came from just by looking at their shell”…
Champion Islet, the second stop of the day is home to the Floreana Mockingbird. Having gone extinct on the main island due to the presence of introduced species, today the remaining population is not bigger then 120 individuals. Snorkeling around Champion was a great success; as we jumped into the crystal clear waters we were greeted by a school of King angels, their beautiful orange tail were the complementary contrast to the aquamarine color of the ocean. Galápagos sea lions came to greet us, as usual they stole the show, no more words where needed, we had already been carried away by their friendly invitation they extended to us making us play and be part of their environment…
Punta Cormorant in the afternoon was very busy. Kayakers enjoyed the calmed waters of the bay, having the chance to get close again to sea turtles; beachgoers enjoyed the relatively cool waters and kids made sand castles. As we walked around the brackish water lagoon, we had a chance to talk about the adaptations of plants in this very harsh environment. The beautiful white coralline beach was the last visit of the day. Having experienced these three ecosystems in just a couple hours gives us a better understanding of the diversity of the archipelago; every day and every place we go is different. It’s unbelievable!
Sunset guided us back to our ship, by now National Geographic Islander is home for all of us, with the magic colors of the afternoon we realized that life today had been very generous to us.
