Floreana Island
Last night we had a bit of “rock and roll” during our long navigation – but most of us slept well anyway, after our busy day on Southern Isabela. I made an optional early wake-up call at 6:30 a.m. and we sent two pangas of guests into Post Office Bay. We walked up a crescent beach to a dilapidated wooden barrel that is the current depository for this hand delivery mail system that dates from 1793. We sorted through a stack of post cards and took those that we could personally deliver to the address on the card. Gilda also related the strange tale of a self-proclaimed Austrian Baroness who came to Floreana in the late 1920s accompanied by her three lovers.
After yet another bountiful breakfast buffet in the Islander dining room, we wiggled into our wet suits and boarded the pangas for snorkeling around Champion Islet. We entered the water behind the island and swam among big schools of king angel fish, Creole fish and chubs. Someone spotted a white-tipped reef shark, some one else watched a pair of Moorish idols and the naturalists pointed out three camouflaged poison spine stone scorpion fish. We stayed away from those!
There were several young sea lions that swirled and twirled and spun gracefully among us. One rowdy fellow in particular entertained us and even tried to grab a camera. Our panga driver Ruben spotted bottlenose dolphins about a half mile out to sea, so we quickly and eagerly scrambled into the Zodiacs and sped out to play with them. While we drove fast, they leapt at our bow. When we stopped abruptly, donned our equipment and jumped in with them, we could hear their high pitched squeaks and see their smooth, sleek ghostly shapes under and all around us. Rarely do the dolphins here in Galápagos let us swim or snorkel with them, but today we were able to get excellent views as they circled back around us and even came up close. One of the snorkelers caught a glimpse of a huge spotted shape: a small whale shark. But the shark dove deep and no one saw it again. What an incredibly fabulous and rare encounter with both dolphins and a whale shark!
In the afternoon we kayaked and then walked to the brackish flamingo lagoon behind the greenish olivine beach at Punta Cormorant. The kids spent an hour playing in the surf and watching some curious young sea lions. The adults hiked across to a beach of fine white sand where sea turtles nest. It was a lovely and peaceful afternoon and we returned to the ship as the sun was setting among the low gray clouds.
Last night we had a bit of “rock and roll” during our long navigation – but most of us slept well anyway, after our busy day on Southern Isabela. I made an optional early wake-up call at 6:30 a.m. and we sent two pangas of guests into Post Office Bay. We walked up a crescent beach to a dilapidated wooden barrel that is the current depository for this hand delivery mail system that dates from 1793. We sorted through a stack of post cards and took those that we could personally deliver to the address on the card. Gilda also related the strange tale of a self-proclaimed Austrian Baroness who came to Floreana in the late 1920s accompanied by her three lovers.
After yet another bountiful breakfast buffet in the Islander dining room, we wiggled into our wet suits and boarded the pangas for snorkeling around Champion Islet. We entered the water behind the island and swam among big schools of king angel fish, Creole fish and chubs. Someone spotted a white-tipped reef shark, some one else watched a pair of Moorish idols and the naturalists pointed out three camouflaged poison spine stone scorpion fish. We stayed away from those!
There were several young sea lions that swirled and twirled and spun gracefully among us. One rowdy fellow in particular entertained us and even tried to grab a camera. Our panga driver Ruben spotted bottlenose dolphins about a half mile out to sea, so we quickly and eagerly scrambled into the Zodiacs and sped out to play with them. While we drove fast, they leapt at our bow. When we stopped abruptly, donned our equipment and jumped in with them, we could hear their high pitched squeaks and see their smooth, sleek ghostly shapes under and all around us. Rarely do the dolphins here in Galápagos let us swim or snorkel with them, but today we were able to get excellent views as they circled back around us and even came up close. One of the snorkelers caught a glimpse of a huge spotted shape: a small whale shark. But the shark dove deep and no one saw it again. What an incredibly fabulous and rare encounter with both dolphins and a whale shark!
In the afternoon we kayaked and then walked to the brackish flamingo lagoon behind the greenish olivine beach at Punta Cormorant. The kids spent an hour playing in the surf and watching some curious young sea lions. The adults hiked across to a beach of fine white sand where sea turtles nest. It was a lovely and peaceful afternoon and we returned to the ship as the sun was setting among the low gray clouds.
