Floreana and Isabela Island
An orange morning at Post Office Bay, it is the way I’d like to call this outing. Why? because the orangey colors emanated from such a beautiful sunrise reflected on the distance hills and on the cool, white sandy beach. Our early morning wake up call gave us the opportunity to get a glimpse of the Southern Cross as well as Alpha and Beta Centauri. By six thirty in the morning we were already landing on the beach, experiencing the desolation that the Norwegians might have felt when first landing here during the 1920’s drought. A short walk (50 yards only) took us to the post office barrel. The main idea was to imitate the whalers and buccaneers, depositing mail as well as taking some and “hopefully” hand delivered it, just as the tradition implies. Right after the visit to post office, we headed to “la loberia” or sea lion rock. As the name implies, lots of sea lions, Zalophus californianus galapagoensis, were found basking under the already strong equatorial sun. The landscape was covered with very old giant Opuntia Cactus and lots of shore birds, such as wandering tattlers, semi-palmated plovers and ruddy turnstones. I often think that such an enchanted area like this could be well considered one of the most beautiful places on earth, but of course, I am a painter and I am using my own perception of beauty!
The afternoon was dedicated to sail to Isabela Island. As soon as we arrived, we disembarked on the main dock at Pto. Villamil. This dock ended on a four miles length beach. What an incredible view! We headed to the main giant tortoises’ rearing center. Here, we learn about the incredible efforts done to preserve an especial kind of tortoises, Cerro Cazuela population. They were saved from the edge of extinction and brought to the rearing center for reproduction. Well, as you can see in the picture, they are doing well and fortunately, the population has been brought back to a decent number of individuals. The only complaint that I could hear from my guests during our visit was that, while attempting to mate, the male kept eating his grass!
Our day ended on the flamingo lagoon. Several individuals were eating on the shores, and as we were observing them, I noticed the pink-orange color of their feathers blending on the already orangey colored sky. Then I decided that, it has been such a perfect orange day…
An orange morning at Post Office Bay, it is the way I’d like to call this outing. Why? because the orangey colors emanated from such a beautiful sunrise reflected on the distance hills and on the cool, white sandy beach. Our early morning wake up call gave us the opportunity to get a glimpse of the Southern Cross as well as Alpha and Beta Centauri. By six thirty in the morning we were already landing on the beach, experiencing the desolation that the Norwegians might have felt when first landing here during the 1920’s drought. A short walk (50 yards only) took us to the post office barrel. The main idea was to imitate the whalers and buccaneers, depositing mail as well as taking some and “hopefully” hand delivered it, just as the tradition implies. Right after the visit to post office, we headed to “la loberia” or sea lion rock. As the name implies, lots of sea lions, Zalophus californianus galapagoensis, were found basking under the already strong equatorial sun. The landscape was covered with very old giant Opuntia Cactus and lots of shore birds, such as wandering tattlers, semi-palmated plovers and ruddy turnstones. I often think that such an enchanted area like this could be well considered one of the most beautiful places on earth, but of course, I am a painter and I am using my own perception of beauty!
The afternoon was dedicated to sail to Isabela Island. As soon as we arrived, we disembarked on the main dock at Pto. Villamil. This dock ended on a four miles length beach. What an incredible view! We headed to the main giant tortoises’ rearing center. Here, we learn about the incredible efforts done to preserve an especial kind of tortoises, Cerro Cazuela population. They were saved from the edge of extinction and brought to the rearing center for reproduction. Well, as you can see in the picture, they are doing well and fortunately, the population has been brought back to a decent number of individuals. The only complaint that I could hear from my guests during our visit was that, while attempting to mate, the male kept eating his grass!
Our day ended on the flamingo lagoon. Several individuals were eating on the shores, and as we were observing them, I noticed the pink-orange color of their feathers blending on the already orangey colored sky. Then I decided that, it has been such a perfect orange day…
