We arrived to Floreana, one of the inhabited islands of the Galapagos. We visited two very interesting sites, Post Office Bay and Baroness Lookout, followed by Champion Islet in the morning and Punta Cormorant in the afternoon. These sites are very important to the natural and human histories of the Galapagos. The first colonizers arrived to Floreana, the mystic island.
The early visit took place at Post Office Bay, where guests had opportunities to go kayaking and paddleboarding. Some guests visited the very famous and oldest mailing system in the world. The post office barrel was established in the late 1700s for whalers. Today, we took part in the tradition of hand delivering letters and postcards to fellow travelers or their families. It was very fun to participate in this legendary activity.
We came back on board for breakfast. As soon as we finished, we started Zodiac tours to enjoy views of nesting sites for the different land and seabirds that live on the cliffs. We returned to the ship to prepare for snorkeling, which ended up being a fantastic experience for our guests. We had the chance to swim with Galapagos sea lions and hundreds of fish of different species that gather in this islet. There is plenty of food available for them here, and the water conditions are great.
In the afternoon, we went for a nature walk along Punta Cormorant, one of four green sand beaches in the world, to look for blue-footed boobies. Inside the brackish lagoon, we encountered over forty-five American flamingos. This was exciting, as we didn’t expect to find so many. We moved to the flour sand beach, where we were lucky to see several large Pacific green sea turtles swimming very close to shore. Some large stingrays fed in the same area.
We had an incredible day in Floreana. We were blown away by its beauty, and now it is time to move to our next destination.
