Floreana Island

We arrived very early at Post Office bay on Floreana Island. Some of us went ashore for a pre-breakfast visit to one of the most historical places in Galápagos, since whalers, pirates and buccaneers have come here in the past centuries. During our visit, we had the chance to follow an interesting tradition started by whalers. It consists of exchanging letters and post cards from within a “post office” barrel. We gathered those addressed to our hometowns and left new ones in hopes that someday someone would hand deliver them as well. Many of our guests took mail with them to hand deliver, that way they will make new friends.

Later in the day, our guests were offered many activities to get to know both the land and marine ecosystems of Floreana. We went deep water snorkeling, glass bottom boating, kayaking and hiking. All of these activities took place at an Islet called Champion off the coast of Floreana, and at the northeastern side of Floreana at Cormorant Point.

The weather was amazing, it allowed snorkelers excellent visibility. In the water came across many colorful fish, as well as black tipped reef sharks and sea stars. The glass bottom boat ride was like snorkeling above the water, so that those not wishing to get wet would not miss the wonderful marine ecosystem of Champion. Kayaking was a great opportunity for some of us to get exercise and go birding from our own personal little bout, while we went inside a nice bay full of sea birds.

During the hike at Cormorant Point we found flamingos, Darwin’s finches, wimbrels, and some sea turtles that were very close to the shore, we also had the chance to walk quite close to a nesting territory of sea turtles. One of the highlights of this hike was to see two different colors of sand in the same area.