Floreana Island

Early in the morning we disembarked on Floreana Island at Post Office Bay, and following an old whaler’s tradition, we collected some postcards to bring home and hand deliver. We returned to our ship and right after a well-deserved breakfast we navigated to Champion Islet and had a Zodiac ride along its volcanic coast.

The view was amazing: old forest of Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia spp.) together with Incense trees; in the distance we spotted a colony of Nazca Boobies, and sea lions in the water and on the rocks. Perhaps the most impressive thing for me was to see the successive lava layers, one after the other, forming this islet.

Also, after that, we returned to see what was under the water and we were very impressed! The lava layers kept on going down to a point where my eyes saw nothing but darkness… the deep waters. The marine life does always take my breath away, especially the sea lions… they are the most charming animals I have ever seen. This was a very good morning, full of nature, and never enough.

After lunch we navigated to Punta Cormorant where we kayaked along the coast. After seeing the coast from the kayaks went ashore for an afternoon walk; this afternoon, we began our expedition with a wet landing on an olivine beach. The green color of the sand is amazing and made us feel lucky to be able to be here and see this landscape and enjoy it.

All of the sudden, two penguins jumped in and out from the water. It looked as if they were having a great time swimming and playing around looking for fish to eat.

The afternoon could never end without looking for the famous Flamingoes. First we saw one young, but as we kept walking we saw the rest of the group; we encountered ten other adults feeding at the far corner of a brackish water lagoon. There and besides flamingoes we also spotted some other birds. We saw a Black-necked common stilt, and a whimbrel feeding while we enjoyed their beauty and the great landscape of the lake. On this trail the smell of the Incense trees surrounded us all the way up to the other side of Punta Cormorant.

We arrived to one of the most beautiful beaches in the archipelago where you can find not only Green Sea turtles but also the trace they left once they climbed up to the beach to lay their eggs. Coming back we had a curious Galápagos flycatcher on an Acacia (Acacia spp.) posing for all of us while we took its picture.

I must say this was my favorite day on the National Geographic Islander, all the activities combined with this great piece of heaven!