Floreana and Isabela Islands
Early in the morning, the Polaris anchored at Post Office Bay. This is the first unofficial ‘Post Office’ this side of the Pacific Ocean, consisting of a barrel or casket in which the mail is left, and you don’t need a stamp! It is traditionally visited by most travelers to the Galápagos Islands. After this short visit, we made our way to the ‘Loberia,’ a small group of islets off the coast of Floreana, where we enjoyed the interaction of several groups of sea lions. In the distance, we spotted several magnificent frigatebirds resting on a black mangrove. The peace and harmony of the area was very inspiring. Soon we made our way back on board, and we sailed for a short time to our next destination in Floreana, Champion Island. This semi-eroded crater is the home of several species of land birds, seabirds and sea lions. From our Zodiacs, many of us spotted the very rare Floreana mockingbird, of which there is just a very small population remaining on the satellite islands of Floreana. The presence of swallow-tailed gulls, brown noddies and Audubon shearwaters confirmed the abundance of food in these waters. For the majority of the snorkelers this morning, the highlight of this place were the juvenile Galápagos sea lions, who made themselves present as soon as the Zodiacs approached Champion. They played with us, twisting and turning underwater, and each one of us enjoyed such a show! The underwater world revealed even more: schools of yellow-tailed surgeon fishes, king angel fishes, beautiful sea stars… the time went on and it was difficult to leave but we had to.
We then set off, leaving Floreana Island behind. En route to Isabela Island, a brief appearance of a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins surprised us. But the best surprise came a while later, when our Expedition Leader announced through the loud speakers that there were a couple of whales in sight! They were identified as Bryde’s whales: a mother with her calf, and the calf even breached several times! We gently followed them for some time. We were not the only whale watchers: a couple of juvenile boobies seemed to enjoy following the whales too!
But, we had to continue our trip, so we left the little family in peace and soon the outline of the volcanoes of southern Isabela were in sight! By mid-afternoon we were already disembarking in Puerto Villamil, the little fishing port of the island. This charming town is situated behind a beautiful white sandy beach. Next was the visit to the Tortoise Breeding Center: we learned there about the success of this breeding program, that has saved several endangered populations of giant tortoises. We walked through the various tortoise corrals and watched the juvenile tortoises looking for a sheltered spot where to spend the night. We then visited a nearby lagoon, to look for greater flamingos. These beautiful birds are considered the pinkest flamingos in the wild in the world. A maximum of 500 individuals in the entire archipelago only, they occur in small groups wondering between the brackish lagoons and ponds in various islands. Next to them, a small group of white-cheeked pintail ducks swam towards the mangroves, passing by a couple of common gallinules that were resting on a log.
Slowly we started our walk back to the peer, along this spectacular beach. The sun was already setting behind Sierra Negra Volcano. This has been a very intense and wonderful day.
Early in the morning, the Polaris anchored at Post Office Bay. This is the first unofficial ‘Post Office’ this side of the Pacific Ocean, consisting of a barrel or casket in which the mail is left, and you don’t need a stamp! It is traditionally visited by most travelers to the Galápagos Islands. After this short visit, we made our way to the ‘Loberia,’ a small group of islets off the coast of Floreana, where we enjoyed the interaction of several groups of sea lions. In the distance, we spotted several magnificent frigatebirds resting on a black mangrove. The peace and harmony of the area was very inspiring. Soon we made our way back on board, and we sailed for a short time to our next destination in Floreana, Champion Island. This semi-eroded crater is the home of several species of land birds, seabirds and sea lions. From our Zodiacs, many of us spotted the very rare Floreana mockingbird, of which there is just a very small population remaining on the satellite islands of Floreana. The presence of swallow-tailed gulls, brown noddies and Audubon shearwaters confirmed the abundance of food in these waters. For the majority of the snorkelers this morning, the highlight of this place were the juvenile Galápagos sea lions, who made themselves present as soon as the Zodiacs approached Champion. They played with us, twisting and turning underwater, and each one of us enjoyed such a show! The underwater world revealed even more: schools of yellow-tailed surgeon fishes, king angel fishes, beautiful sea stars… the time went on and it was difficult to leave but we had to.
We then set off, leaving Floreana Island behind. En route to Isabela Island, a brief appearance of a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins surprised us. But the best surprise came a while later, when our Expedition Leader announced through the loud speakers that there were a couple of whales in sight! They were identified as Bryde’s whales: a mother with her calf, and the calf even breached several times! We gently followed them for some time. We were not the only whale watchers: a couple of juvenile boobies seemed to enjoy following the whales too!
But, we had to continue our trip, so we left the little family in peace and soon the outline of the volcanoes of southern Isabela were in sight! By mid-afternoon we were already disembarking in Puerto Villamil, the little fishing port of the island. This charming town is situated behind a beautiful white sandy beach. Next was the visit to the Tortoise Breeding Center: we learned there about the success of this breeding program, that has saved several endangered populations of giant tortoises. We walked through the various tortoise corrals and watched the juvenile tortoises looking for a sheltered spot where to spend the night. We then visited a nearby lagoon, to look for greater flamingos. These beautiful birds are considered the pinkest flamingos in the wild in the world. A maximum of 500 individuals in the entire archipelago only, they occur in small groups wondering between the brackish lagoons and ponds in various islands. Next to them, a small group of white-cheeked pintail ducks swam towards the mangroves, passing by a couple of common gallinules that were resting on a log.
Slowly we started our walk back to the peer, along this spectacular beach. The sun was already setting behind Sierra Negra Volcano. This has been a very intense and wonderful day.
