Floreana Island
An optional early wake-up call took us to a very historical place called Post Office Bay. Whalers and Buccaneers came to this bay in search of the post barrel that was mentioned for the very first time by Captain James Colnett in the late 1700s. Colnett wrote about the good idea of having a mailing system through the barrel, for early sailors that wandered around the South Pacific for years. They would eagerly come to this place looking for news of their beloved ones as well as battle strategies and in search of maps for treasures. At the same time, they took advantage of this anchorage site to take away several land tortoises for food, oil and blubber.
We had a landing here at seven in the morning and a fine warm rain accompanied us. Our guests picked up some of the mail to hand deliver and left theirs to be collected by somebody else following this centenary tradition.
During breakfast we had a big surprise and there behind our ship we spotted bottle nosed dolphins; we turned our ship around and joined these playful dolphins for awhile. We marveled at the agility and playful disposition of these friendly creatures.
After our close encounter with dolphins we went bird watching around Champion Islet on our Zodiacs. Several sightings of the endangered Floreana mockingbird were made. Snorkeling and playing with sea lions was another highlight. The water temperature was in the 80s and the clearness of it made the perfect combination for us to observe the rich underwater life of the Galápagos.
The afternoon highlight was of course visiting the brackish water lagoon in Punta Cormorant where we saw about 50 bright pink flamingoes. Kayaking along the shores of the area with sea turtles and sea lions was definitely breathtaking.
