Floreana Island
Floreana Island is one of the oldest and most beautiful islands in the archipelago. Located in the southeast, this island is made of a group of eroded conical volcanoes with different colors of vegetation, exuberant highlands and springs of fresh water, which made it an important resupply center during whaler and pirate golden age. This is where Darwin landed and was witness to the first human establishment during the government of General Juan Jose Flores, our first president and in his honor, Floreana received its name.
Early in the morning, we headed to Punta Cormorant and landed on a beach, which was green due to its high predominance of olivine or peridot, a semi-precious and transparent stone. We observed how the vegetation was changing, from a green color to a grey as we moved inland. We observed clearly the different zones of vegetation and endemic plants such as Floreana daisy and the short haired scalesia. Beyond the beach, the lagoon appeared solitary without any birds, and it was dry with a lot of salt along the shore. Its salinity is high, but small crustaceans that are well adapted can survive in these adverse conditions.
When we arrived at the organic white beach, the landscape changed completely. We saw sea turtle tracks on the beach and many of them in the water observing us, waiting for the opportunity to abandon the ocean for laying her eggs. On the beach, sanderling, sandpipers, turnstones, whimbrels and other shorebirds captivated the attention of our guests.
After breakfast we took a Zodiac cruise along Champion Islet, where we saw many Floreana mockingbirds fluttering around the cactus and palo santo trees. Sharing the islet, we observed red billed tropic birds, gulls and boobies. Later we returned with snorkeling gear and found the water conditions to be very favorable. Our guests could observe tropical fish, sea lions and the best attraction: a group of Galápagos sharks, peacefully swimming nearby.
In the afternoon, we began with kayaking and a Zodiac cruise along the coastline of Post Office Bay. We observed a beautiful landscape and beautiful creatures, which were the delightful of our guests: Male sea lions barking tirelessly, Galápagos penguins on the rocks, rays and dozens of green sea turtles sticking their heads outside the water. Our activities ended visiting the old barrel of Post Office Bay, where our guests could exchange postcards, emulating the ancient procedure used by pirates hundreds of years ago. It was getting late, but that didn’t stop anyone from swimming and walking along the beautiful beach, where we observed a solitary flamingo flying over our heads, as if it were saying to us that they hadn’t abandoned Floreana, my favorite island.
