Floreana Island
Hilly Floreana Island is our destination of today. After an early morning wake-up call, we disembarked in Post Office Bay. This bay, located in the north of the island, is the home to a famous barrel, first placed here by Captain James Colnett, a British whaler, in 1793. It was the only communication link sailors of past times had with their far away home countries. Letters would be left inside the barrel to be picked up by passing ships on their homebound journey. These vessels would make Post Office Bay their last stop, once their time in the Galápagos had run out, and would collect any letters they could hand-deliver (we must remember this was initiated in times before stamps were thought of!). This system is still kept up by visitors to the islands, so we can well say that this is the oldest “Post Office” on this side of the Pacific Ocean.
Floreana is also called the mysterious island, because of past events that have taken place over the last couple of centuries involving human settlers. Nowadays, Floreana is more than willing to reveal its magical mysteries, which we could appreciate during our various outings. Around one of its satellite islets, Champion, a few playful Galápagos sea lions, really interested in our snorkelers, made this an unforgettable experience for all of our guests. Champion is also the home to the endangered Floreana mockingbirds, where it manages to survive in small numbers. We were lucky enough to have been able to observe several of them from our Zodiacs.
We continued experiencing the magic of Floreana, and in the afternoon we visited Punta Cormorant, still north of the island. Here, we followed a trail that took us through its enchanting dry vegetation and along a serene brackish lagoon, where several Greater Flamingos were observed at some distance. At the end of the trail, a marvelous white sand beach awaited us. Life is all around us: green sea turtles rested in the mild waves, the Sally Lightfoot crabs were feeding on minute algae covering the lava rocks of the shoreline, and dozens of sting rays rested in the shallow waters of the beach.
It was certainly a delightful day, and we can’t wait to see more of the wonders of the Enchanted Islands.
Hilly Floreana Island is our destination of today. After an early morning wake-up call, we disembarked in Post Office Bay. This bay, located in the north of the island, is the home to a famous barrel, first placed here by Captain James Colnett, a British whaler, in 1793. It was the only communication link sailors of past times had with their far away home countries. Letters would be left inside the barrel to be picked up by passing ships on their homebound journey. These vessels would make Post Office Bay their last stop, once their time in the Galápagos had run out, and would collect any letters they could hand-deliver (we must remember this was initiated in times before stamps were thought of!). This system is still kept up by visitors to the islands, so we can well say that this is the oldest “Post Office” on this side of the Pacific Ocean.
Floreana is also called the mysterious island, because of past events that have taken place over the last couple of centuries involving human settlers. Nowadays, Floreana is more than willing to reveal its magical mysteries, which we could appreciate during our various outings. Around one of its satellite islets, Champion, a few playful Galápagos sea lions, really interested in our snorkelers, made this an unforgettable experience for all of our guests. Champion is also the home to the endangered Floreana mockingbirds, where it manages to survive in small numbers. We were lucky enough to have been able to observe several of them from our Zodiacs.
We continued experiencing the magic of Floreana, and in the afternoon we visited Punta Cormorant, still north of the island. Here, we followed a trail that took us through its enchanting dry vegetation and along a serene brackish lagoon, where several Greater Flamingos were observed at some distance. At the end of the trail, a marvelous white sand beach awaited us. Life is all around us: green sea turtles rested in the mild waves, the Sally Lightfoot crabs were feeding on minute algae covering the lava rocks of the shoreline, and dozens of sting rays rested in the shallow waters of the beach.
It was certainly a delightful day, and we can’t wait to see more of the wonders of the Enchanted Islands.
