Floreana Island
Today we had an optional early wake up call for those of us who wanted to go for a short walk and deliver postcards to the oldest post office in the Americas, Post Office Bay. There we had a great introduction to the human history of the island, since it was one of the first islands to be inhabited by pirates, buccaneers and whalers and later on by some German families. We delivered our postcards with the hope that someday someone will take them to their destination.
While having breakfast we navigated on board the National Geographic Endeavour to Champion Islet, off shore Floreana, for our water activities. Some of us went on the glass bottom boat and some went deep water snorkeling to one of the most beautiful snorkeling spots in the Galápagos. Around Champion we saw hundreds of Razor Surgeonfish, King Angelfish, Black striped Salemas and of course the playful Galápagos sea lions that played with us for a while.
After snorkeling we went for a short Zodiac ride along the islet searching for the endemic Charles or Floreana Mockingbird. This rare bird species is only found on a couple of small islets, Champion and Gardner by Floreana. It was a great and unique opportunity to see these birds, since there are less than 200 pairs left in the entire World.
In the afternoon, we sailed onboard the National Geographic Endeavour to Punta Cormorant and, as we were disembarking for our visit at Punta Cormorant, a large pod of Bottle-nose dolphins was spotted from the bridge. Immediately we boarded our Zodiac fleet and went to witness a great Nature show. We observed with joy and excitement how the dolphins bow rode the Zodiacs.
Once on land, we took a trail that took us to a large, brackish water lagoon – home of Great Flamingoes. We only got to see a few, but luckily enough they were very close to the trail and we got some great pictures of them as well as the White cheek Pintail ducks and Black neck stilts. As we followed the trail we ended up on a beautiful white sand beach that is used by the Green back sea turtles to lay their eggs. With this great view of the flour beach, we ended another great day in paradise.
Today we had an optional early wake up call for those of us who wanted to go for a short walk and deliver postcards to the oldest post office in the Americas, Post Office Bay. There we had a great introduction to the human history of the island, since it was one of the first islands to be inhabited by pirates, buccaneers and whalers and later on by some German families. We delivered our postcards with the hope that someday someone will take them to their destination.
While having breakfast we navigated on board the National Geographic Endeavour to Champion Islet, off shore Floreana, for our water activities. Some of us went on the glass bottom boat and some went deep water snorkeling to one of the most beautiful snorkeling spots in the Galápagos. Around Champion we saw hundreds of Razor Surgeonfish, King Angelfish, Black striped Salemas and of course the playful Galápagos sea lions that played with us for a while.
After snorkeling we went for a short Zodiac ride along the islet searching for the endemic Charles or Floreana Mockingbird. This rare bird species is only found on a couple of small islets, Champion and Gardner by Floreana. It was a great and unique opportunity to see these birds, since there are less than 200 pairs left in the entire World.
In the afternoon, we sailed onboard the National Geographic Endeavour to Punta Cormorant and, as we were disembarking for our visit at Punta Cormorant, a large pod of Bottle-nose dolphins was spotted from the bridge. Immediately we boarded our Zodiac fleet and went to witness a great Nature show. We observed with joy and excitement how the dolphins bow rode the Zodiacs.
Once on land, we took a trail that took us to a large, brackish water lagoon – home of Great Flamingoes. We only got to see a few, but luckily enough they were very close to the trail and we got some great pictures of them as well as the White cheek Pintail ducks and Black neck stilts. As we followed the trail we ended up on a beautiful white sand beach that is used by the Green back sea turtles to lay their eggs. With this great view of the flour beach, we ended another great day in paradise.
