Floreana Island
Early this morning we arrived at Floreana Island, which was well known amongst pirates, whalers and buccaneers. The main reasons they stopped were because of the presence of fresh water and Galápagos giant tortoises. In addition, in the late 1700’s a wooden barrel was placed here to leave mail; that mail would be hand-delivered by the whalers on their way back home. We followed the old tradition of these sailors and took some letters to be hand-deliver once back at home.
As we returned aboard, we lifted anchor and headed to Champion Islet for a Zodiac ride along the coast; later on we went snorkeling around this spot. There were thousands of fish, all colors, and all sizes; the fish schools were very large and numerous. There was a large male sea lion with several juveniles; a few youngsters were carried on his back as he swam away in a playful mode.
In the afternoon we sailed to Punta Cormorant. As soon as we arrived we sent our kayakers to explore a calm, quiet bay where sea turtles and sea lions hang around. Later on, we disembarked for a walk where we learned about the human history and observed new sea turtles’ nests; there were fresh tracks in the sand from the females that built them.
We ended our day with a magnificent sunset. A great finale for a great day!
