Floreana Island
We started our day bright and early on a beautiful sunny morning when we landed at the famous Post Office Bay to visit its hidden barrel. One of our Naturalists, Fernando, regaled us with a great story about how this barrel became established by British whalers in the 18th century, after which we carried on with a tradition that is now over two hundred years old. We both left and collected mail of our own here.
Later on, after breakfast, we repositioned to a tiny islet named Champion, where we spent the rest of the morning snorkeling, Zodiac gliding and riding in the glass bottom boat. Whilst out there we spied on one of our fellow travelers, Lisa, traveling in a bathrobe on her own private Zodiac, on her way to the Polaris floating SPA to treat herself to a very special birthday present: a floating massage while watching marine life through a window to the underwater world!
After lunch we made a wet landing at Cormorant Point, on a greenish beach made of olivine. This precious crystal basically forms part of the mantle of the earth which we are not able to see, but has been dragged to the surface during volcanic activity. The crystal found so abundantly here is formed by minerals like magnesium and silica, and is one of the hardest materials that make up the surface of the earth. We left this beach of inorganic volcanic matter, and strolled over to another completely different kind of beach on the far side of the island – a beach of fine white organic sand, made by the hard work of thousands of industrious parrot and other reef fish. Dozens of sting rays could be seen burrowing down into the soft, flour-like sand, and the occasional green sea turtle could be seen in the shallows. I particularly loved watching how much some of the kids traveling with us this week liked this beautiful spot!
We started our day bright and early on a beautiful sunny morning when we landed at the famous Post Office Bay to visit its hidden barrel. One of our Naturalists, Fernando, regaled us with a great story about how this barrel became established by British whalers in the 18th century, after which we carried on with a tradition that is now over two hundred years old. We both left and collected mail of our own here.
Later on, after breakfast, we repositioned to a tiny islet named Champion, where we spent the rest of the morning snorkeling, Zodiac gliding and riding in the glass bottom boat. Whilst out there we spied on one of our fellow travelers, Lisa, traveling in a bathrobe on her own private Zodiac, on her way to the Polaris floating SPA to treat herself to a very special birthday present: a floating massage while watching marine life through a window to the underwater world!
After lunch we made a wet landing at Cormorant Point, on a greenish beach made of olivine. This precious crystal basically forms part of the mantle of the earth which we are not able to see, but has been dragged to the surface during volcanic activity. The crystal found so abundantly here is formed by minerals like magnesium and silica, and is one of the hardest materials that make up the surface of the earth. We left this beach of inorganic volcanic matter, and strolled over to another completely different kind of beach on the far side of the island – a beach of fine white organic sand, made by the hard work of thousands of industrious parrot and other reef fish. Dozens of sting rays could be seen burrowing down into the soft, flour-like sand, and the occasional green sea turtle could be seen in the shallows. I particularly loved watching how much some of the kids traveling with us this week liked this beautiful spot!
