Floreana Island
We awoke today to a drizzly morning, typical of this time of the year in the Galápagos Islands. One of the southern islands of the archipelago, Floreana looks hilly and mysterious. Before breakfast, we set foot on a beach whose sands contain a volcanic crystal called olivine. Behind it there is a brackish lagoon, which is the home to a small flock of Greater flamingos. This morning they were filtering its waters to obtain the algae and minute crustaceans they usually feed on. Further ahead there is another beach locally known as the ‘flour beach’; its white, coralline sand dunes still hold the old green sea turtle nests from the previous breeding season. After a short navigation, the National Geographic Islander dropped anchor nearby at Champion Islet, where we were to spend the rest of the morning. Champion holds one of the last populations of the endemic Floreana mockingbird. This species became extinct on Floreana some time ago, and in order to find this rare bird we set off for a Zodiac ride around the islet. Other endemic and native species inhabit this little speck of rock, like the Nazca booby, swallow-tailed gulls, Galápagos shearwaters and a colony of sea lions. There was some time to jump in the water later on, Champion being a remarkable snorkeling site. In the windward side, our snorkelers were surrounded by large schools of Razor surgeonfish, Panamic sergeant majors and King angel fishes. In the shallows, there were various species of sea urchins and sea stars; a couple of Galápagos sea lions came to us, curious and fearless as they usually are, and a Pacific green sea turtle swam underneath the group. The underwater world of the Galápagos Islands is just extraordinary!
Floreana has a very rich human history being one of the few islands that has a permanent fresh water spring. During the whaling era, a barrel was placed in the north of the island in the late 1700’s. This was the only mean of communication between sailors stationed here for months and their families back in the US and Europe. This tradition is kept alive by modern visitors to the Post Office Bay. So, a brief stop was due, and some of our guests either picked up or dropped off mail to honor this tradition. Afterwards, we embarked on our Zodiacs and visited nearby La Loberia, a small group of islets inhabited by sea lions, marine iguanas and seabirds. On a small, rocky outcrop we found a solitary Galápagos penguin and in the surrounding waters there were sea turtles and spotted eagle rays. As the sunset bathing us with a magnificent yellow light, a Great flamingo flew above our Zodiac in the direction of the brackish lagoon… a perfect end to another amazing day in paradise.
