Floreana Island
Today was a spectacular day. We began early in the morning with the visit to a historical place known as Post Office Bay at Floreana Island. We believe that more than two hundred years ago, an officer from the British navy, James Colnett, erected a barrel with similar characteristic of a mailbox. The idea was to build a link between the crew on board of any ship traveling on these waters and their families back home. That was probably how the first mailing service in South America began. The tradition is still alive, and our guests took advantage of it this morning. We left our postcards, and hopefully, somebody not too far in the future will pick them up for hand deliver…sounds like fun! We combined our outing with a panga ride along La Loberia, also known as the sea lion rock. Here, we got a glimpse of the Galápagos shark, sea turtles, penguins, sea lions, blue-footed boobies’ feeding frenzies, among other wonderful sightings.
After coming back to our good ship, the M/S Islander, we all enjoyed a delicious breakfast. This was followed almost immediately by our exploration of the submarine world of Champion Island. Here, the multicolored underwater world of this area made the snorkeling a delight. We had the company of several sea lions that decided to join us on our exploration. Nothing can be as charming as swimming with these admirable and incredible creatures of the islands.
Later on, we explored the surroundings of the Champion islet. This small island together with Gardner Island (location wise, not too far from Champion) are the only two places in the world where the Floreana mockingbird still could be found. Less than one hundred individuals inhabit these two little islands, but once upon a time, these birds were found on the main island of Floreana by thousands. Their importance comes from Charles Darwin times, since it was him who made them famous. He was collecting them and observing them, and then, his theory about the origin of the species by means of natural selection started to be developed in his brain. These little creatures really rock!
Today was a spectacular day. We began early in the morning with the visit to a historical place known as Post Office Bay at Floreana Island. We believe that more than two hundred years ago, an officer from the British navy, James Colnett, erected a barrel with similar characteristic of a mailbox. The idea was to build a link between the crew on board of any ship traveling on these waters and their families back home. That was probably how the first mailing service in South America began. The tradition is still alive, and our guests took advantage of it this morning. We left our postcards, and hopefully, somebody not too far in the future will pick them up for hand deliver…sounds like fun! We combined our outing with a panga ride along La Loberia, also known as the sea lion rock. Here, we got a glimpse of the Galápagos shark, sea turtles, penguins, sea lions, blue-footed boobies’ feeding frenzies, among other wonderful sightings.
After coming back to our good ship, the M/S Islander, we all enjoyed a delicious breakfast. This was followed almost immediately by our exploration of the submarine world of Champion Island. Here, the multicolored underwater world of this area made the snorkeling a delight. We had the company of several sea lions that decided to join us on our exploration. Nothing can be as charming as swimming with these admirable and incredible creatures of the islands.
Later on, we explored the surroundings of the Champion islet. This small island together with Gardner Island (location wise, not too far from Champion) are the only two places in the world where the Floreana mockingbird still could be found. Less than one hundred individuals inhabit these two little islands, but once upon a time, these birds were found on the main island of Floreana by thousands. Their importance comes from Charles Darwin times, since it was him who made them famous. He was collecting them and observing them, and then, his theory about the origin of the species by means of natural selection started to be developed in his brain. These little creatures really rock!
