Floreana Island
Last night we departed from Gardner Islet to the next destination Floreana Island. It was a smooth navigation under a spectacular starry sky. A group of nocturnal endemic Swallow-tailed gulls followed us looking for fish, shrimps and squids to bring back home to feed their chicks. It was a spectacular show. We woke up this morning with a beautiful sunrise at Post Office Bay in Floreana Island also known as Charles or Santa Maria Island. We started our expedition today with a very pleasant weather and a smooth breeze. Some guests went up to the sky deck to join our Wellness Specialist's pilates session while other guests disembarked at the famous Post Office Bay. While visiting this place you can feel that you are back in time to the 16th Century, the era of pirates, whalers, and buccaneers. All these early visitors had a feast with the meat of introduced goats and pigs. Unfortunately their diet included Galápagos giant tortoises as well. The barrel was a meeting point where they exchanged news, letters and rum to celebrate their safe arrival to Floreana Island.
After breakfast our adventure continued around Champion Islet by Floreana Island. This small islet is the peak of submarine volcano. In this place snorkelers explored the fascinating underwater world. For the guests who did not go snorkeling, Lindblad Expeditions has a unique alternative in Galápagos, the glass bottom boat. With the glass bottom boat every one on board had the opportunity to get in contact with one of the largest marine reserves on this planet. We had a great time discovering the playful Galápagos sea lions, schools of yellow tailed surgeonfish, territorial white tailed damselfish, Mexican hogfish, Blue-chinned parrotfish, schools of needlefish, and a huge spotted eagle ray just to mention a few. In our Zodiac ride, we were very lucky to find one of the most famous bird species in the Galápagos, the Charles Mockingbird. Not many of these rare birds survived, Champion Islet is one of the only two little islands off shore Floreana where you can see this particular species! Everybody came back on board with a big smile and expressions of happiness in their faces as we all learned something new from the Mother Nature. We had a great meal for lunch and some a great nap to recharge the energy to be ready to continue our adventure. In the afternoon, we started with a group of kayakers around Cormorant Point while the rest of our guests went to a nearby beach for swimming and snorkeling. Late in the afternoon almost at the end of our walk, everyone was shocked to see in front of our eyes a natural event that showed how Mother Nature could be real: a flock of frigate birds was seen attacking a nest of baby Pacific green sea turtles, and nearly any survived. This time the birds were the winners and the cycle of life was completed. Observing this event in front of our eyes we realized what Natural Selection really means and I wonder … What a wonderful world...
Last night we departed from Gardner Islet to the next destination Floreana Island. It was a smooth navigation under a spectacular starry sky. A group of nocturnal endemic Swallow-tailed gulls followed us looking for fish, shrimps and squids to bring back home to feed their chicks. It was a spectacular show. We woke up this morning with a beautiful sunrise at Post Office Bay in Floreana Island also known as Charles or Santa Maria Island. We started our expedition today with a very pleasant weather and a smooth breeze. Some guests went up to the sky deck to join our Wellness Specialist's pilates session while other guests disembarked at the famous Post Office Bay. While visiting this place you can feel that you are back in time to the 16th Century, the era of pirates, whalers, and buccaneers. All these early visitors had a feast with the meat of introduced goats and pigs. Unfortunately their diet included Galápagos giant tortoises as well. The barrel was a meeting point where they exchanged news, letters and rum to celebrate their safe arrival to Floreana Island.
After breakfast our adventure continued around Champion Islet by Floreana Island. This small islet is the peak of submarine volcano. In this place snorkelers explored the fascinating underwater world. For the guests who did not go snorkeling, Lindblad Expeditions has a unique alternative in Galápagos, the glass bottom boat. With the glass bottom boat every one on board had the opportunity to get in contact with one of the largest marine reserves on this planet. We had a great time discovering the playful Galápagos sea lions, schools of yellow tailed surgeonfish, territorial white tailed damselfish, Mexican hogfish, Blue-chinned parrotfish, schools of needlefish, and a huge spotted eagle ray just to mention a few. In our Zodiac ride, we were very lucky to find one of the most famous bird species in the Galápagos, the Charles Mockingbird. Not many of these rare birds survived, Champion Islet is one of the only two little islands off shore Floreana where you can see this particular species! Everybody came back on board with a big smile and expressions of happiness in their faces as we all learned something new from the Mother Nature. We had a great meal for lunch and some a great nap to recharge the energy to be ready to continue our adventure. In the afternoon, we started with a group of kayakers around Cormorant Point while the rest of our guests went to a nearby beach for swimming and snorkeling. Late in the afternoon almost at the end of our walk, everyone was shocked to see in front of our eyes a natural event that showed how Mother Nature could be real: a flock of frigate birds was seen attacking a nest of baby Pacific green sea turtles, and nearly any survived. This time the birds were the winners and the cycle of life was completed. Observing this event in front of our eyes we realized what Natural Selection really means and I wonder … What a wonderful world...
