Floreana Island

The weather in Galápagos has been phenomenal these last weeks. We have had a visibility of at least 30 feet when we go snorkeling; we have shared clear and warm waters with schools of fish and sea lions.

Today’s snorkeling experience around Champion Island was incredible; we saw many sea lions inviting our guests to jump in and play with them. It was so wonderful that after spending about one hour in the water, no one wanted to leave yet.

Champion is an island that has one of the four species of mockingbirds that we have in Galápagos. Only a few individuals are still alive on this place, the rest of their population was almost exterminated by feral introduced land mammals, most of which were brought here in the eighteen hundreds by pirates and whalers. It is very difficult to find them now in this small island. Yesterday we also saw one of its cousins on Espanola, different in the shape of the bill and in the behavior. Espanola mockingbirds are a very healthy population, and they are really friendly. Actually, this picture was taken yesterday when a mockingbird jumped on the head of our guest and stayed there for a little while. I really didn’t want to miss to sending this photo because it was spectacular to experience the innocence of this animal. This is just part of the magic of Galápagos!