Floreana Island Galápagos
We were all glad this morning when we awoke swaying peacefully at anchor off the northern coast of Floreana. The night had not been very peaceful for many of us; on the other hand, I heard some of the sailors among us comment that they had slept like a baby in a crib. I woke those tuned into channel one on the PA system at 6:30am and after coffee and snacks we made a wet landing on the beach in Post Office Bay. A barrel held a stack of post cards that we looked through and those who found cards addressed to an area close to home volunteered to hand deliver them. We had a good laugh while the guides told us the wild and involved story of Austrian Baroness Eloise Wagner de Bosquet and her three lovers who had lived on Floreana in the 1930’s.
After breakfast we wiggled into our wet suits and went by Zodiac to snorkel in the crystal clear and invigoratingly cool ocean around the small islet of Champion. Graceful water ballet with sea lions was the chief joy of this morning’s snorkeling outing: there were at least two dozen teenage sea lions as eager to investigate and play with us and we were to observe them! Sharks, brilliant orange tailed, purple bodied king angel fish and tightly packed schools of algae grazing razor fish were among many of the species we snorkeled with. Yet again we had an absolutely lovely day – sunny, an azure blue sky, but breezy so it was not too hot – and even the Islander crew took a moment for a swim off the ship or a short soccer game on shore in the afternoon.
Our afternoon was divided between kayaking, snorkeling, swimming and relaxing on board or on the greenish olivine beach at Punta Cormorant. Then we took an extremely interesting yet tranquil walk along the shore of a brackish lagoon just behind the landing beach. Here we found over 20 brilliant pink adult flamingos feeding and resting and a few pale juvenile birds that varied from almost white to gray in color. Along a cindery trail and over a rise we descended to a fine white sand beach that is a major sea turtle nesting site. Nesting season is almost over, the hatchlings are beginning to emerge and patrolling frigate birds were searching for any unfortunate baby turtles who might make the fatal mistake of crawling out of the sand before dark.
As the sun set we returned to the ship for an evening on the sky deck. We enjoyed a delicious barbecue dinner followed by latin dancing and all went to bed contentedly looking forward to tomorrow and one final day in the enchanted islands.
We were all glad this morning when we awoke swaying peacefully at anchor off the northern coast of Floreana. The night had not been very peaceful for many of us; on the other hand, I heard some of the sailors among us comment that they had slept like a baby in a crib. I woke those tuned into channel one on the PA system at 6:30am and after coffee and snacks we made a wet landing on the beach in Post Office Bay. A barrel held a stack of post cards that we looked through and those who found cards addressed to an area close to home volunteered to hand deliver them. We had a good laugh while the guides told us the wild and involved story of Austrian Baroness Eloise Wagner de Bosquet and her three lovers who had lived on Floreana in the 1930’s.
After breakfast we wiggled into our wet suits and went by Zodiac to snorkel in the crystal clear and invigoratingly cool ocean around the small islet of Champion. Graceful water ballet with sea lions was the chief joy of this morning’s snorkeling outing: there were at least two dozen teenage sea lions as eager to investigate and play with us and we were to observe them! Sharks, brilliant orange tailed, purple bodied king angel fish and tightly packed schools of algae grazing razor fish were among many of the species we snorkeled with. Yet again we had an absolutely lovely day – sunny, an azure blue sky, but breezy so it was not too hot – and even the Islander crew took a moment for a swim off the ship or a short soccer game on shore in the afternoon.
Our afternoon was divided between kayaking, snorkeling, swimming and relaxing on board or on the greenish olivine beach at Punta Cormorant. Then we took an extremely interesting yet tranquil walk along the shore of a brackish lagoon just behind the landing beach. Here we found over 20 brilliant pink adult flamingos feeding and resting and a few pale juvenile birds that varied from almost white to gray in color. Along a cindery trail and over a rise we descended to a fine white sand beach that is a major sea turtle nesting site. Nesting season is almost over, the hatchlings are beginning to emerge and patrolling frigate birds were searching for any unfortunate baby turtles who might make the fatal mistake of crawling out of the sand before dark.
As the sun set we returned to the ship for an evening on the sky deck. We enjoyed a delicious barbecue dinner followed by latin dancing and all went to bed contentedly looking forward to tomorrow and one final day in the enchanted islands.
