Floreana Island
Early in the morning we landed at Punta Cormorant on Floreana Island, also known as Charles, located in the south corner of the archipelago.
The island is dotted with numerous volcanoes and host to a fascinating human history. It was the first island to be officially colonized by Ecuadorians back in 1832 and then visited by Charles Darwin in 1835. Pirates, buccaneers, and whalers were also common visitors to Floreana since the islands were discovered in 1535.
During our early-morning walk we were able to spot many endemic and native plants along the trail, such as the Lecocarpus pinnatifidus and the Scalesia villosa only found here.
In a brackish lagoon a few flamingos were showing a very distinctive bright pink color while they were feeding. The trail took us to a second white coral sand beach, a very important nesting site for the Pacific green sea turtles every year, as well as a feeding area for dozens of sting rays that filter the sand near the shore.
On the way back to our landing site, we enjoyed the presence of many Darwin finches, as well as lava lizards and the always-curious Galápagos Flycatchers.
Back aboard and after breakfast our ship repositioned to a small offshore volcanic cone named Champion Islet, where a remnant population of the Floreana mockingbird still exists, while the rest of the population was driven to extinction by cats, rats, and other introduced predators on the main island.
The islet’s rocky shores are home to numerous Galápagos sea lions, swallowed-tailed gulls, brown noddy terns, Galápagos shearwaters, red billed tropicbirds many other species, while the underwater world is full of colorful fish, white-tipped reef sharks, sea stars, sea urchins, corals, as well as playful sea lions that were a delight for our guests while snorkeling.
After a healthy and well deserved lunch, we spent the afternoon visiting the famous Post Office Bay. Here a wooden barrel (replaced several times) is still used as a mailbox following a tradition going back to whaling days—letters were placed here in the barrel to be collected by ships going back to Europe or North America. Nowadays we keep the tradition. Guests from all over the world who visit this site deposit their letters in the barrel in the hope that next visitors will hand deliver them one day in the near future…
Our Olivia guests kept the tradition as they collect many postcards and letters to be hand delivered, as they promised to us.
Our day ended up with Zodiac rides and kayaking along the calm waters of Post Office Bay where again our playful sea lions were the stars of the day!
