Floreana Island
The National Geographic Islander anchored this morning 7:00am in Post Office Bay. We all desembarked, and the finches and yellow warblers welcomed us with their beautiful singing.
We all walked a few yards and encountered a historical place called the Post Office Barrel, which was erected on Floreana to facilitate the delivery of mail to England and the United States in the 1700s. Letters left in the barrel would be picked up by ships and eventually hand-delivered to their destination; this system is still used by visitors today and so our guests dropped off and picked up postcards for hand delivery with great enthusiasm.
We left this place after an hour or so, sailing in the direction of Champion Islet, a place where we take Zodiacs for an unforgettable ride along the cliffs with a special delegation of Galápagos sea lions welcoming us. The young ones were playful and curious. We also saw Nazca and blue footed boobies, red-billed tropic birds in flight, pelicans and frigate birds and colorful fish. We spotted, as well, the Charles mockingbird. Last century, this bird was considered to be almost extinct. We finished this splendorous morning with a snorkeling outing, which was the highlight of the day.
In the afternoon, after finishing kayaking in calm warm waters, we disembarked on the olivine beach of Punta Cormorant to continue walking along the flamingo’s lagoon, a place where we spotted some of them with birds such as the Galápagos pintail duck and black-necked stilt.
We walked over to the white coralline beach, impressive for its colors and the nesting area of sea turtles. This is also a place where some of the frigate birds were waiting for the turtle hatchlings to leave their nests, so they could swoop down and eat them.
We came back to the National Geographic Islander acompanied by a splendorous and unforgettable sunset.
The National Geographic Islander anchored this morning 7:00am in Post Office Bay. We all desembarked, and the finches and yellow warblers welcomed us with their beautiful singing.
We all walked a few yards and encountered a historical place called the Post Office Barrel, which was erected on Floreana to facilitate the delivery of mail to England and the United States in the 1700s. Letters left in the barrel would be picked up by ships and eventually hand-delivered to their destination; this system is still used by visitors today and so our guests dropped off and picked up postcards for hand delivery with great enthusiasm.
We left this place after an hour or so, sailing in the direction of Champion Islet, a place where we take Zodiacs for an unforgettable ride along the cliffs with a special delegation of Galápagos sea lions welcoming us. The young ones were playful and curious. We also saw Nazca and blue footed boobies, red-billed tropic birds in flight, pelicans and frigate birds and colorful fish. We spotted, as well, the Charles mockingbird. Last century, this bird was considered to be almost extinct. We finished this splendorous morning with a snorkeling outing, which was the highlight of the day.
In the afternoon, after finishing kayaking in calm warm waters, we disembarked on the olivine beach of Punta Cormorant to continue walking along the flamingo’s lagoon, a place where we spotted some of them with birds such as the Galápagos pintail duck and black-necked stilt.
We walked over to the white coralline beach, impressive for its colors and the nesting area of sea turtles. This is also a place where some of the frigate birds were waiting for the turtle hatchlings to leave their nests, so they could swoop down and eat them.
We came back to the National Geographic Islander acompanied by a splendorous and unforgettable sunset.
