Floreana Island
It’s our third day exploring the Galápagos Islands, and we had a great time visiting the island of Floreana, located in the southern region of the archipelago.
Early in the morning we went for a short walk to pay a visit to the legendary and very old post office barrel, which was the only mailing system in the islands for centuries. During the visit we got to know more about the human history of this historic place.
Shortly afterwards we moved to a little island called Champion; some of us went for a glass-bottom boat outing and others went deep-water snorkeling. The highlights, without a doubt, were the Galápagos sea lions; these marine mammals are very inquisitive and playful. Champion Islet is also popular for its big schools of tropical fish and sea birds.
We also explored the coastal area around Champion Islet aboard the Zodiacs. Here we successfully accomplished our goal, which was to find the elusive Charles mockingbird. This time we saw them very close to the Zodiacs and very close to the shore as well; what a great day so far!
In the afternoon, after our well-deserved lunch, we did some kayaking on the north side of Floreana Island, at Punta Cormorant. Here you can get a good idea of the origin of these islands; you can see and count a lot of volcanic cones and also see the different types of volcanic materials that have formed them.
Later in the afternoon we enjoyed some leisure time at Punta Cormorant, going for a hike to explore this new place. At the end of the trail we found ourselves on a sandy beach, home to the Pacific green sea turtles, which rest here after their long voyages crossing the ocean.
