Today we woke up anchored in Punta Cormorant at Floreana Island. Floreana is probably one of the most popular islands in the archipelago because of its human history—this island was the first one to be colonized in the Galapagos, though the first two colonies weren’t successful until the 1920s, when a group of Germans came to successfully colonize it. But there is much more, Floreana used to be a strategic point for whalers and buccaneers since this island has a permanent water resource and also giant tortoises. These reptiles can be without food or water for a year, so they were the perfect source of fresh meat. The sailors carried them alive upside down, one on top of each other in their ships, and whenever they wanted fresh meat would just slaughter one.
We started our morning with an optional early wakeup call to spot some flamingos, blue-footed boobies and many sea turtles in the water. We came back and enjoyed a delicious breakfast. After breakfast we got ready for our water activities, some of our guests had the chance to go out on our glass-bottom boat, and others went deep water snorkeling. Our guests came back trilled! This is the time of the year when female sea lions are giving birth, so there were lots of playful pups in the water.
We had an amazing Mexican lunch followed by activities for photographers and also for our global explorers on board. In the afternoon we had different options like kayaking, paddle-boarding or just enjoying time at the beach swimming and playing, which was perfect for the kids. We also visited the post office barrel, which was placed more than 200 years ago by one of the captains who visited the island at the time. This historic site was the first mailing system in the Pacific!
