Floreana Island
Today we started our day with an early morning outing to visit the historicalplace known as Post Office Bay on Floreana Island. We had the opportunity to relate mighty old sailors’ tales about pirates, whalers and buccaneers who used to come to this location. Their main interests were collecting giant tortoises, searching for fresh water and mailing messages to their relatives and friends. A wine barrel posted by Captain James Colnett in 1793 became the first and most important mailing system in the South Pacific. This place was a vital one for the early colonizers of this island as well. Nowadays, Floreana Island has a small population comprised of 120 people. Puerto Velasco Ibarra, capital of the island, was a penal colony back in the late eighteen hundreds. Nowadays the town has a hard working community. One school with twenty kids is the cheerful face of this little town.
Having been the setting of many fantastic and interesting human settlement histories, Floreana Island also offers great opportunities to observe wildlife. We dedicated the rest of the morning to explore Champion islet. This islet is the home of the Charles mockingbird. We took a Zodiac ride searching for this rare bird species. Later, once we had all geared up, we went snorkeling around Champion islet’s clear waters. Lots and lots of beautifully colored tropical fish, sea stars, an octopus, and white tipped reef sharks along with Galápagos sea lions were some of the snorkeling highlights. After lunch, as some of our guests were happily browsing at our market, some others went out for kayaking along the shores of Punta Cormorant. A relaxed stroll in the afternoon taught us some more details about the life of humans on this island and their impact on its wildlife. We observed the magnificent and very colorful Greater flamingoes. To end the day, a spectacular sunset told us that it was time to come back onboard.
Today we started our day with an early morning outing to visit the historicalplace known as Post Office Bay on Floreana Island. We had the opportunity to relate mighty old sailors’ tales about pirates, whalers and buccaneers who used to come to this location. Their main interests were collecting giant tortoises, searching for fresh water and mailing messages to their relatives and friends. A wine barrel posted by Captain James Colnett in 1793 became the first and most important mailing system in the South Pacific. This place was a vital one for the early colonizers of this island as well. Nowadays, Floreana Island has a small population comprised of 120 people. Puerto Velasco Ibarra, capital of the island, was a penal colony back in the late eighteen hundreds. Nowadays the town has a hard working community. One school with twenty kids is the cheerful face of this little town.
Having been the setting of many fantastic and interesting human settlement histories, Floreana Island also offers great opportunities to observe wildlife. We dedicated the rest of the morning to explore Champion islet. This islet is the home of the Charles mockingbird. We took a Zodiac ride searching for this rare bird species. Later, once we had all geared up, we went snorkeling around Champion islet’s clear waters. Lots and lots of beautifully colored tropical fish, sea stars, an octopus, and white tipped reef sharks along with Galápagos sea lions were some of the snorkeling highlights. After lunch, as some of our guests were happily browsing at our market, some others went out for kayaking along the shores of Punta Cormorant. A relaxed stroll in the afternoon taught us some more details about the life of humans on this island and their impact on its wildlife. We observed the magnificent and very colorful Greater flamingoes. To end the day, a spectacular sunset told us that it was time to come back onboard.
