Floreana Island
We started our day surrounded by a magical mist. This was the perfect scenery to land on the mysterious Island of Floreana. Early in the morning we disembarked on the legendary Post Office Bay. It took us back to the end of the seventeenth century when whalers used this bay to leave their letters and take ones that were addressed close to their homes to deliver. As in the past we did exactly the same. We opened the barrel, left our post cards and took the ones that were close to our homes. We did not use stamps, but we continued to honor this tradition.
The National Geographic Polaris moved during breakfast to Champion Islet. This old volcanic cone is home of the rare Floreana Mockingbird. Several water activities were planned and all of them had our active participation: deep water snorkeling, bay snorkeling, floating spa, Zodiac cruises, and glass bottom boat outings. Galápagos sea lions were the stars of the morning as almost every person onboard had an experience to remember of these playful marine mammals. While being on the glass bottom boat we had one sea lion looking at us from under the glass. The young sea lion was staring at us and bubbling from time to time. We were delighted because this sighting felt like we were underwater swimming with the sea lion.
If the morning was good, spending the afternoon on Punta Cormorant was even better. There are different and distinctive ecosystems within this one area. A beautiful green beach was the first ecosystem we passed by. Just some feet away we had a shallow lagoon surrounded by green vegetation with a population of Greater flamingos living on it. At the end of the trail we found a beach with the finest white sand you could imagine. On this beach we witnessed the cycle of life as we observed how frigate birds were catching new hatching sea turtles. On our way back to the National Geographic Polaris one of our guests told me, “every day is getting busier and better and better than the previous one.” That was true! Everyday we have tried to see and experience as much as possible, we are in the Galápagos Islands, and there is no time to lose.
We started our day surrounded by a magical mist. This was the perfect scenery to land on the mysterious Island of Floreana. Early in the morning we disembarked on the legendary Post Office Bay. It took us back to the end of the seventeenth century when whalers used this bay to leave their letters and take ones that were addressed close to their homes to deliver. As in the past we did exactly the same. We opened the barrel, left our post cards and took the ones that were close to our homes. We did not use stamps, but we continued to honor this tradition.
The National Geographic Polaris moved during breakfast to Champion Islet. This old volcanic cone is home of the rare Floreana Mockingbird. Several water activities were planned and all of them had our active participation: deep water snorkeling, bay snorkeling, floating spa, Zodiac cruises, and glass bottom boat outings. Galápagos sea lions were the stars of the morning as almost every person onboard had an experience to remember of these playful marine mammals. While being on the glass bottom boat we had one sea lion looking at us from under the glass. The young sea lion was staring at us and bubbling from time to time. We were delighted because this sighting felt like we were underwater swimming with the sea lion.
If the morning was good, spending the afternoon on Punta Cormorant was even better. There are different and distinctive ecosystems within this one area. A beautiful green beach was the first ecosystem we passed by. Just some feet away we had a shallow lagoon surrounded by green vegetation with a population of Greater flamingos living on it. At the end of the trail we found a beach with the finest white sand you could imagine. On this beach we witnessed the cycle of life as we observed how frigate birds were catching new hatching sea turtles. On our way back to the National Geographic Polaris one of our guests told me, “every day is getting busier and better and better than the previous one.” That was true! Everyday we have tried to see and experience as much as possible, we are in the Galápagos Islands, and there is no time to lose.
