Floreana Island
Today began with an outing before breakfast to visit the famous Post Office Barrel on Floreana Island. We departed the ship by Zodiac, landing on a beach near the site where whalers and mariners first developed this unusual postal system. Carrying on with the historic traditions, we left cards in an old barrel to eventually be delivered to their recipients by other travelers returning home. Similarly, we gathered any mail found there that was destined for our home ports or towns, each to be delivered by hand, without modern postage.
As we enjoyed breakfast, the ship repositioned a short distance around Floreana to anchor near an offshore islet known as Champion. We headed out to explore the underwater world, either by glass-bottom boat, or with snorkel, mask and flippers. There were a great variety of fishes in the waters fringing Champion. As seabirds flew overhead, sea lions flew beneath us and around us in the water. There was also an opportunity to cruise around Champion by Zodiac searching for the very rare Floreana mockingbird which has disappeared from the main island of Floreana. Now the entire world population of these birds persists only on this small offshore islet.
The afternoon held many more unexpected delights. There was a chance to kayak along Floreana’s rocky shores, and also to hike inland on this magical island. On the walk ashore we visited a large shallow lagoon where colorful flamingos were feeding in the briny waters. We hiked over a low hill to a lovely white sand beach. This is a place where green sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs, and we could see several sea turtles swimming just beyond the surf. On a low outcrop of black lava rock there were dozens of brightly colored Sally Lightfoot crabs being washed by the incoming waves. We made our way back to the landing beach just before dusk. After dinner we were treated to an entertaining presentation by our Expedition Leader, Paula Tagle, telling us stories of the mysterious human history of Floreana Island.
