Floreana Island
This time we had an early pre-breakfast outing to visit a historical place that goes back all the way back to whaling times. After Galápagos was discovered by accident, by Fray Thomas de Berlanga in 1535, this place was visited by pirates as a refuge for repairing their ships and collecting giant tortoises as a food source. Later on by the mid seventeen hundreds, with the advance of the industrial revolution and after wiping out cetaceans from Atlantic Ocean, they made it to the Pacific Ocean to look for these creatures. This activity was not easy though because they were away from home for up to five years.
Captain James Colnett invented a correspondence system, placing a wine barrel where pirates and whalers could drop letters to keep in touch with their families in England. This morning we kept alive this old ancient tradition, some of our guests dropping postcards and some others collecting them with the hope to make new friends.
Later in the morning we were ready to explore the underwater life at Champion Islet, one of the best places for fish observation. Sea lions and sharks were spotted as well.
Early in the afternoon we started our expedition with our first round of kayakers to explore the coastline of Cormorant Point on Floreana Island. Meanwhile, a group of explorers decided to disembark on a green sandy beach covered with olivine crystals. That’s the main reason for this beach to be greenish.
By 4PM all our guest started our hike to the windward side to a white sandy beach known as Flour Beach. We passed by a brackish lagoon with 40 flamingos and some of them were nesting. Soon we’ll have newborn flamingos.
Once we arrived to the second beach, a group of frigate birds were poking the sand with the hopes of getting some baby Pacific green sea turtles. At this time of the year, they are hatching in big numbers. Hundred of female turtles lay their eggs on this beach, but only two percent probably will reach maturity. This is due to the presence of many predators they have to confront from the very beginning of their lives.
On the way back to the National Geographic Endeavour we were delighted with a beautiful sunset, offered from Mother Nature.
