Floreana Island
This is an island full of history and tales about the first humans living in the Galápagos archipelago. I always like to remember the story of Patrick Watkins, the first human that lived on the island. He stayed here against his will as he was a renegade buccaneer of some Swedish ship. His captain did not want Watkins on his ship anymore and he left him on Floreana Island alone to die. This happened around 1809, while the Post Office Barrel had already been set by Captain James Colnett in 1793.
Colnett wanted to have a mailing system for the early sailors that navigated around the South Pacific in those times and the barrel served well for this purpose. Watkins would come down to Post Office Bay to exchange some cabbages he would grow in the highlands of Floreana for rum that the sailors would bring. Watkins survived like this for about two or three years.
Chronicles of buccaneers and whalers of the time would mention him for a while and then his name was lost in time. The last thing we know about Watkins is that he was seen in Guayaquil, Ecuador. He did not die as his captain wished him to on the Galápagos; he survived and was a very tough man.
Snorkeling and bird watching around Champion Islet on board the Zodiacs was another morning highlight. The afternoon was portrayed with the beautiful and very pink Galápagos flamingoes; stories about the first human settlers were also very interesting. We saw frigate birds feasting on just hatched baby sea turtles, a real lesson of the struggle for life.
