Floreana Island
Floreana is a peaceful, rolling island dotted with numerous extinct volcanic cones amidst a variety of scrubby vegetation. Its colorful human history goes back almost two centuries and, at times, verges on the bizarre: from marooned whalers to prisoners and colonists, and from a toothless dentist to a self-proclaimed empress. Our view of Floreana will be considerably gentler than its past, however.
We started the day with an early morning visit to Post Office Barrel, an old mail swap tradition going back to the whaling days. We came back on board for breakfast, and the ship repositioned to a small offshore volcanic cone named Champion Islet. Here we had the opportunity to see a couple of the rare Charles mockingbirds, which are extinct on the island of Floreana. The islet’s rocky shores are home to colonies of Galápagos sea lions, and the underwater cliffs are swarming with colorful fish species, sharks and much more. People also had the opportunity to see fish on the glass bottom boat.
In the afternoon we had kayak activities as well as swimming from the beach from Punta Cormorant (ironically there are no cormorants here; it is named after a boat wreck!). Right after this we went for a walk through the two different areas and we saw flamingos, sea turtles mating and a gorgeous landscape.
We returned back on board and the National Geographic Endeavour started its journey towards Isabela. Tonight we had an interesting recap by Fernando about plankton and one about boobies by me.
What a wonderful day this was. Viva la naturaleza.
