Floreana Island
Today we woke to a beautiful view of Floreana Island. Before breakfast we disembarked and went to see bottlenose dolphins – it was wonderful as they played and jumped alongside our Zodiacs.
We then went to Punta Cormorant and wet-landed on the beach. This place offers the opportunity to see the green olivine sand, a brackish water lagoon with flamingos and also the white talcum-like powder sand dunes. It is also where Pacific green sea turtles come to nest year after year.
Back aboard breakfast was served while National Geographic Endeavour weighed anchor and sailed towards Champion Islet. Champion is an old eroded cone on which lives the endemic Charles mockingbird, giant prickly pear cactus, Galápagos doves and many species of seabirds.
After breakfast we went for a Zodiac ride around Champion and saw the elusive Charles mockingbird, sea lions, tropical birds and more. We then returned to the ship to don our wetsuits and go snorkeling at Champion. We had an awesome snorkeling outing where we saw king angelfish, gringos, morish idols and others. But the best part was playing with Galápagos sea lions – they were really showing us how inquisitive and playful they can be. We all had a blast.
Lunch was served followed with time for a little rest. At 2:30pm Alexandra, one of our Naturalists, gave a talk on the archipelago’s human history, which is a fascinating one. People also had the chance to go kayaking and finally we went to visit Post Office Bay, which contains barrel that was set up by an English whaler as a pick-up-and-drop-off point for mail so whalers could keep in touch with their relatives and friends.
We also had the opportunity for a Zodiac ride around the satellite islands offshore of Floreana, home to the Galápagos sea lions, cattle egret’s, marine iguanas and the Pacific green sea turtle.
It was a magnificent day.
