Floreana Island

The southernmost island in the Galápagos is well known for mysterious events surrounding its early inhabitants. Of the many tales one is of a woman from Germany who came to live here with three lovers. One was Ecuadorian and the other two came from Europe; one day she and a lover disappeared without a trace, others have followed the same path of tragedy.

Before breakfast we headed to the beach for a short hike along a greenish-brown sandy beach full of olivine crystal, considered a semi-precious stone. We hiked past a brackish water lagoon with greater flamingoes, noble inhabitants of this paradise usually in the company of pintail ducks and black-necked stilts.

The trail ended at a white coralline sandy beach where green sea turtles nest throughout the year and where diamond rays concentrate by the hundreds along the shore under the breaking waves. Bright red Sally Lightfoot crabs added splashes of color to the dark lava.

Back on board we had breakfast and started to navigate to a small Island called Champion, where we disembarked for a Zodiac ride in search of interesting wildlife such as sea lions, blue-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, brown noddies, red-billed tropicbirds, and others like an elusive bird called the Chatham mockingbird, which was wiped out on the main island due to predation by introduced animals.

We returned to the ship to get ready for another exciting activity—snorkeling at one of the best locations. Here large schools of fish are found, to mention just a few: parrotfish, king angelfish, invertebrates, echinoderms, even barracudas showed up, but what we enjoyed the most was swimming with sea lions, which entertained us throughout the session. It was a great morning.

Post Office Bay

This other destination was waiting for us after lunch and a deserved siesta. Here at Post Office Bay a wine barrel still stands where a whaler named James Colnett erected the first one in 1793. It has since been used as an early post office; sailors on their way home pick up letters and deliver letters. We still follow the tradition by writing postcards, dropping them in the barrel, and taking other postcards to deliver them. We also took a Zodiac ride around a small island where a lot of sea lions and birds and turtles were hanging out. We found a Galápagos penguin standing on a rock to the surprise of everyone.

We concluded this fantastic day with a soccer match among the young kids. That was a lot of fun, even score at the end. Everybody was happy.