Floreana Island
When we woke up early this morning, little we knew that the day ahead of us would turn out to be such a great day! Of course, it is highly unlikely that something goes wrong, because after all, we are in the Galápagos Islands!
By the time we got up, a little buffet-style breakfast table had been already set up for the eager guests who wanted to join in this adventure. For some of us, a cup of coffee was enough, as we contemplated a sunrise that was worth millions!
We were anchored at the famous post office bay, and the main purpose of this visit was to exchange mail! Believe it or not, the island of Floreana was famous long ago because of the wooden barrel hidden behind the bushes, not too far from the landing site. It was here where back in the late seventeen hundreds, thousands of crew from different regions in the world found a little happiness and peace of mind! I am talking about the thousands of people that worked in the whaling ships, searching the seas of the world looking for the famous sperm whales. What this crew did for a living might not look now as the most conservationist oriented activity for a place like the Galápagos, but little they knew about conservation back in those days, and even more, how important these islands would become for the world.
In fact, their activity was highly respected back in those days, with great rewards waiting for the sailors who returned from such odyssey. Hundreds if not thousands of sperm whales were taken from the very spot where we were anchored today, and an entire race of tortoises endemic to the island of Floreana was eliminated as a consequence of such activity. The post office barrel has an endless account of visits, all of them based on faith and trust in a tradition developed by whalers themselves. If we think about it, thousands of families found happiness because of this place. The letters that were deposited here long ago were picked up by homebound ships and then delivered in public plazas to the crew’s relatives directly.
Today, we celebrated this tradition by once again collecting postcards from the barrel, and in a way, commemorate the lives of the hundreds of people that dedicated their lives to benefit their love ones…
When we woke up early this morning, little we knew that the day ahead of us would turn out to be such a great day! Of course, it is highly unlikely that something goes wrong, because after all, we are in the Galápagos Islands!
By the time we got up, a little buffet-style breakfast table had been already set up for the eager guests who wanted to join in this adventure. For some of us, a cup of coffee was enough, as we contemplated a sunrise that was worth millions!
We were anchored at the famous post office bay, and the main purpose of this visit was to exchange mail! Believe it or not, the island of Floreana was famous long ago because of the wooden barrel hidden behind the bushes, not too far from the landing site. It was here where back in the late seventeen hundreds, thousands of crew from different regions in the world found a little happiness and peace of mind! I am talking about the thousands of people that worked in the whaling ships, searching the seas of the world looking for the famous sperm whales. What this crew did for a living might not look now as the most conservationist oriented activity for a place like the Galápagos, but little they knew about conservation back in those days, and even more, how important these islands would become for the world.
In fact, their activity was highly respected back in those days, with great rewards waiting for the sailors who returned from such odyssey. Hundreds if not thousands of sperm whales were taken from the very spot where we were anchored today, and an entire race of tortoises endemic to the island of Floreana was eliminated as a consequence of such activity. The post office barrel has an endless account of visits, all of them based on faith and trust in a tradition developed by whalers themselves. If we think about it, thousands of families found happiness because of this place. The letters that were deposited here long ago were picked up by homebound ships and then delivered in public plazas to the crew’s relatives directly.
Today, we celebrated this tradition by once again collecting postcards from the barrel, and in a way, commemorate the lives of the hundreds of people that dedicated their lives to benefit their love ones…
