Floreana Island

Floreana is an island where past and present are combined. It is considered the Mystery Island. And it is a display of different colors.

Early in the morning we took a trip to the 1800’s disembarking, as whalers did, in a bay known as the Post Office Bay. Behind some bushes we could find a very picturesque barrel where all the correspondence from the last many months has been dropped, waiting for a good soul who will take it to its destiny. Just one rule: It has to be hand delivered. We picked up some post cards and left ours to continue with our discovery of Floreana.

After breakfast we boarded our zodiacs to look for our Floreana mockingbird. Just few individuals survived in a little islet named Champion close to Floreana. We found several mockingbirds but other birds found us! Brown Noddy terns were flying, following our zodiacs trying to steal some hair as nesting material! Blue footed boobies were diving next to us, fishing. Red billed tropic birds observed us from their nests in the cliff.

Snorkeling was a highlight. The current was a little strong but this movement brings a lot of nutrients to the sea. There were colorful schools of fish all over and as we went closer to the calmer areas, the sea lions started the show! We had pups playing with us for over 30 minutes, bubbling in front of our masks! They danced with us under the water, challenging us to dive deeper than them.

In the afternoon, after some kayaking, we disembarked on the green beach of Punta Cormorant. Pink Flamingos were feeding in the brackish water lagoon. White Palo Santos were covering all the area with their naked branches as they lost their leaves to survive the dry season. Finally at the end of the trail we found a calm and beautiful white coralline beach full of turtle nests!

Floreana is well-known as well because it has the most incredible colors for the sunset. Today was no exception!