Floreana Island
Early in the morning we disembarked at Post Office Bay to learn about the history and mysteries of Floreana Island. We were excited to use the famous barrel, an easy and practical way to keep in touch with the rest of the world. It is so interesting that now we are the ones using the barrel; during the 17th Century it was a common stop-over for whalers, famous captains and adventurous sailors who passed through these enchanted islands. We checked every single letter to see if any of them were addressed close to our home; with success some of us took a few postcards to hand deliver them. Let’s see how long it will take before we get our own delivered!
On the way back to the National Geographic Polaris for breakfast, we encountered a small group of penguins chasing a school of sardines; we were amazed at how perfect and fast swimmers they are and also the fact we were watching penguins practically on the Equator! An amazing and rare sight was several baby hammerhead sharks in the shallows of the beach – a heart-warming sight, considering the state of our oceans today.
Snorkeling around Champion Islet was amazing: sea lions playing with us, colorful fish in the surroundings. These animals were just a taste of the real world of these islands.
In the afternoon, we anchored at Cormorant Point where kayaking activities along the coastline allowed us to encounter sea turtles in the water, playful sea lions following the kayaks, and some sea birds watching us from the rocks. At one point a young sea lion chose our Zodiac, tied up at the boarding platform for a quick snooze, causing quite a bit of excitement on board as we prepared to disembark. It was later found curled up on a metal boom off the stern, continuing it’s disrupted nap from earlier (he chose not to join us for the ride to shore).
After all that exercise, we had a wet landing on a beautiful beach with golden-greenish sand and started to head to the inside part of the island. On our way we encountered a reasonable group of Greater flamingos in a brackish water lagoon (which by the way were easy to spot because of the bright pink colors) standing out against the dark waters of the lagoon.
As we walked, many endemic plants were sighted, some Galápagos fly catchers, Darwin’s finches, yellow warblers. At the end of the hike we found a totally different landscape, with an extraordinary white coralline sand beach, turquoise waters and many Pacific green sea turtles. These turtles are expecting to come on shore at night to lay their eggs.
Late in the afternoon we started back to the National Geographic Polaris, looking forward to see more of the wonders the enchanted islands
Early in the morning we disembarked at Post Office Bay to learn about the history and mysteries of Floreana Island. We were excited to use the famous barrel, an easy and practical way to keep in touch with the rest of the world. It is so interesting that now we are the ones using the barrel; during the 17th Century it was a common stop-over for whalers, famous captains and adventurous sailors who passed through these enchanted islands. We checked every single letter to see if any of them were addressed close to our home; with success some of us took a few postcards to hand deliver them. Let’s see how long it will take before we get our own delivered!
On the way back to the National Geographic Polaris for breakfast, we encountered a small group of penguins chasing a school of sardines; we were amazed at how perfect and fast swimmers they are and also the fact we were watching penguins practically on the Equator! An amazing and rare sight was several baby hammerhead sharks in the shallows of the beach – a heart-warming sight, considering the state of our oceans today.
Snorkeling around Champion Islet was amazing: sea lions playing with us, colorful fish in the surroundings. These animals were just a taste of the real world of these islands.
In the afternoon, we anchored at Cormorant Point where kayaking activities along the coastline allowed us to encounter sea turtles in the water, playful sea lions following the kayaks, and some sea birds watching us from the rocks. At one point a young sea lion chose our Zodiac, tied up at the boarding platform for a quick snooze, causing quite a bit of excitement on board as we prepared to disembark. It was later found curled up on a metal boom off the stern, continuing it’s disrupted nap from earlier (he chose not to join us for the ride to shore).
After all that exercise, we had a wet landing on a beautiful beach with golden-greenish sand and started to head to the inside part of the island. On our way we encountered a reasonable group of Greater flamingos in a brackish water lagoon (which by the way were easy to spot because of the bright pink colors) standing out against the dark waters of the lagoon.
As we walked, many endemic plants were sighted, some Galápagos fly catchers, Darwin’s finches, yellow warblers. At the end of the hike we found a totally different landscape, with an extraordinary white coralline sand beach, turquoise waters and many Pacific green sea turtles. These turtles are expecting to come on shore at night to lay their eggs.
Late in the afternoon we started back to the National Geographic Polaris, looking forward to see more of the wonders the enchanted islands
