Floreana Island
Floreana was the inhabited island where Darwin met the first Governor of Galápagos in 1835. Whalers disembarked here seeking food and water, and also established a form of postal service: a wooden barrel, placed on the island around 1792. This was so that other whalers passing by could deliver news to the senders' relatives, and so are we doing just the same. Early morning before breakfast, February 18th, 2008, we made a wet landing to leave a letter or a postcard to a friend… and Dr. Sylvia Earle brought the Society’s flag for a group photo!
Later on in the morning at a different spot, this time Champion Islet by Floreana, we jumped in the water for some snorkeling. It was great, with lots of fish, schools of so many different species and also playful sea lions all around us. We even saw sharks, and that wasn’t all. We had one more thing to do after snorkeling: a panga ride, to find the allusive mockingbird of Floreana, extinct on the big island, but still found on Champion. We were successful, we saw it many times flying back and forth from one Opuntia to another, sightings that sealed the morning with a feeling of mission accomplished.
But that wasn’t all! Not too long after lunch some of us had the opportunity to again kayak along the coast of Cormorant Point, another visitor site on the same island. Besides the good exercise, we spotted many green sea turtles, and right now (the hot season) is the right time to see them mating. The single ones are just waiting for the opportunity and we had one in front of us, another just right next to us and one just going under our kayaks. As we paddled along the length of the beach we could also see our travel companions, the young ones playing, building sand castles, while others just walked or swam. Very relaxing.
Finally, before the day came to an end, we formed groups to look for flamingoes; pink ones, some very bright, very close to us, walking, flying or feeding on the brine shrimp that gives them their color they are famous for.
Charles Island is now green, as this is the rainy season, but today it didn’t rain, even though we felt as though it could happen any time. Nevertheless we continued on the path to look for turtles. We wanted and hoped to see them. Late in the afternoon they approach the coast waiting for sunset, so they can come ashore to lay eggs. Success again! There they were, swimming along the beach and at the far end a desperate fight for mating rights; one, even two males on top of a female. A tough life, but instinct makes all of us living creatures figure out strategies to keep our species alive, and so do they, the green sea turtles. But time on the Equator runs fast and the sun began to go down and we had leave before the day came to an end.
Floreana was the inhabited island where Darwin met the first Governor of Galápagos in 1835. Whalers disembarked here seeking food and water, and also established a form of postal service: a wooden barrel, placed on the island around 1792. This was so that other whalers passing by could deliver news to the senders' relatives, and so are we doing just the same. Early morning before breakfast, February 18th, 2008, we made a wet landing to leave a letter or a postcard to a friend… and Dr. Sylvia Earle brought the Society’s flag for a group photo!
Later on in the morning at a different spot, this time Champion Islet by Floreana, we jumped in the water for some snorkeling. It was great, with lots of fish, schools of so many different species and also playful sea lions all around us. We even saw sharks, and that wasn’t all. We had one more thing to do after snorkeling: a panga ride, to find the allusive mockingbird of Floreana, extinct on the big island, but still found on Champion. We were successful, we saw it many times flying back and forth from one Opuntia to another, sightings that sealed the morning with a feeling of mission accomplished.
But that wasn’t all! Not too long after lunch some of us had the opportunity to again kayak along the coast of Cormorant Point, another visitor site on the same island. Besides the good exercise, we spotted many green sea turtles, and right now (the hot season) is the right time to see them mating. The single ones are just waiting for the opportunity and we had one in front of us, another just right next to us and one just going under our kayaks. As we paddled along the length of the beach we could also see our travel companions, the young ones playing, building sand castles, while others just walked or swam. Very relaxing.
Finally, before the day came to an end, we formed groups to look for flamingoes; pink ones, some very bright, very close to us, walking, flying or feeding on the brine shrimp that gives them their color they are famous for.
Charles Island is now green, as this is the rainy season, but today it didn’t rain, even though we felt as though it could happen any time. Nevertheless we continued on the path to look for turtles. We wanted and hoped to see them. Late in the afternoon they approach the coast waiting for sunset, so they can come ashore to lay eggs. Success again! There they were, swimming along the beach and at the far end a desperate fight for mating rights; one, even two males on top of a female. A tough life, but instinct makes all of us living creatures figure out strategies to keep our species alive, and so do they, the green sea turtles. But time on the Equator runs fast and the sun began to go down and we had leave before the day came to an end.
