Floreana Island
Our early morning pre-breakfast outing took us today to the historical and picturesque Post Office Bay on Floreana Island. A wine barrel was placed in this location around the year 1873 probably by an early buccaneer. His intention was to establish a peculiar mailing system to be used by the passing by sailors that navigated the South Pacific during those past times. Since then, this barrel has been spreading innumerable messages that range from clues for successful love stories, to treasure hunters’ maps, to those seeking help and the establishment of early settlers.
This island is the very first island that ever held a resident human being living on the Galápagos as well. Back in 1809, Patrick Watkins, a Norwegian renegade buccaneer was left behind by his captain with a warning to others not to pick him up, as he was a very dangerous and aggressive man. Watkins survived on rum that he exchanged with some pumpkins that he grew here and there. He survived there for two years and then was taken to the main port of Ecuador, Guayaquil where he finally passed away. Patrick Watkins was the Ecuadorian Robinson Crusoe in the Galápagos Islands. Nowadays Floreana Island holds a tiny population of 120 human beings. Puerto Velasco Ibarra, established first as a penal colony in the early eighteen hundreds, turned out to be a peaceful and quiet town. People in this human settlement live mostly on farming, fishing and local tourism. There is a tiny school with one teacher who teaches all the signatures to twenty kids of different ages. It is certainly a fairly peculiar way of living there!
After the visit to Post Office Bay we headed to Champion Islet where we had a couple of activities. After breakfast we took a Zodiac ride around the island. A spectacular snorkeling outing was a true highlight that sealed with gold this marvelous morning. At noon we shared our lunch time with a large group of bottled nosed and common dolphins who happily accompanied our way for about half an hour. We observed these marine mammals directly from our seats in the dining room! The afternoon’s easy stroll in Punta Cormorant was highlighted by the phosphorescent pink Galápagos flamingoes at the brackish water lagoon that is their home. Common stilts, pintail ducks, whimbrels, black necked plovers among some other lagoon birds were observed as well. Today spent on Floreana Island has been splendid; another day in paradise.
Our early morning pre-breakfast outing took us today to the historical and picturesque Post Office Bay on Floreana Island. A wine barrel was placed in this location around the year 1873 probably by an early buccaneer. His intention was to establish a peculiar mailing system to be used by the passing by sailors that navigated the South Pacific during those past times. Since then, this barrel has been spreading innumerable messages that range from clues for successful love stories, to treasure hunters’ maps, to those seeking help and the establishment of early settlers.
This island is the very first island that ever held a resident human being living on the Galápagos as well. Back in 1809, Patrick Watkins, a Norwegian renegade buccaneer was left behind by his captain with a warning to others not to pick him up, as he was a very dangerous and aggressive man. Watkins survived on rum that he exchanged with some pumpkins that he grew here and there. He survived there for two years and then was taken to the main port of Ecuador, Guayaquil where he finally passed away. Patrick Watkins was the Ecuadorian Robinson Crusoe in the Galápagos Islands. Nowadays Floreana Island holds a tiny population of 120 human beings. Puerto Velasco Ibarra, established first as a penal colony in the early eighteen hundreds, turned out to be a peaceful and quiet town. People in this human settlement live mostly on farming, fishing and local tourism. There is a tiny school with one teacher who teaches all the signatures to twenty kids of different ages. It is certainly a fairly peculiar way of living there!
After the visit to Post Office Bay we headed to Champion Islet where we had a couple of activities. After breakfast we took a Zodiac ride around the island. A spectacular snorkeling outing was a true highlight that sealed with gold this marvelous morning. At noon we shared our lunch time with a large group of bottled nosed and common dolphins who happily accompanied our way for about half an hour. We observed these marine mammals directly from our seats in the dining room! The afternoon’s easy stroll in Punta Cormorant was highlighted by the phosphorescent pink Galápagos flamingoes at the brackish water lagoon that is their home. Common stilts, pintail ducks, whimbrels, black necked plovers among some other lagoon birds were observed as well. Today spent on Floreana Island has been splendid; another day in paradise.
