Floreana Island
Today we visited Floreana Island, also called the mystery island because of all the different people that have disappeared in the past and few of them have survived to tell the history of this place.
Two hours by boat from the port town is a bay called Post Office Bay. A few minutes before we disembarked at the beach we saw a lot of sand coming out from the bushes, but we did not know what it was because a sea lion was walking by at the same time. We got closer and a great surprise appeared; it was a marine turtle just finishing its nest and covering it with sand – in day time!
We disembarked very quietly and walked slowly towards her, and watched that incredible process of nesting. It was daytime, and this normally occurs at night, but we thought possibly this turtle came late to lay its eggs and the daylight caught it as the process was almost finished. All our guests had the great opportunity to get a close picture of this amazing creature. The funniest of all was that a very curious sea lion was right there close to this turtle watching this phenomenal process also. If the eggs hatch and one of the baby turtles survives, it will come back to the Galápagos about 30 years later when it has reached sexual maturity.
After breakfast we snorkeled and also used the glass bottom boat. In the snorkel spot we saw sharks, rays, and some sea lions interacting with us in the water. Using the underwater video camera, I managed to film one of them eating a fish in an underwater lava tunnel; it was fantastic!
In the afternoon we had a short walk in a different place where we saw some beautiful creatures with pink color on their bodies, the Galápagos Greater flamingoes. The walk was very relaxed around this lagoon and at the end we arrived to a white beach covered with hundreds of marine turtle nests. This species in Galápagos is a sub species of the East Pacific green sea turtle.
Back at the National Geographic Polaris we all came with the best memories of this island, the mystery island.
Today we visited Floreana Island, also called the mystery island because of all the different people that have disappeared in the past and few of them have survived to tell the history of this place.
Two hours by boat from the port town is a bay called Post Office Bay. A few minutes before we disembarked at the beach we saw a lot of sand coming out from the bushes, but we did not know what it was because a sea lion was walking by at the same time. We got closer and a great surprise appeared; it was a marine turtle just finishing its nest and covering it with sand – in day time!
We disembarked very quietly and walked slowly towards her, and watched that incredible process of nesting. It was daytime, and this normally occurs at night, but we thought possibly this turtle came late to lay its eggs and the daylight caught it as the process was almost finished. All our guests had the great opportunity to get a close picture of this amazing creature. The funniest of all was that a very curious sea lion was right there close to this turtle watching this phenomenal process also. If the eggs hatch and one of the baby turtles survives, it will come back to the Galápagos about 30 years later when it has reached sexual maturity.
After breakfast we snorkeled and also used the glass bottom boat. In the snorkel spot we saw sharks, rays, and some sea lions interacting with us in the water. Using the underwater video camera, I managed to film one of them eating a fish in an underwater lava tunnel; it was fantastic!
In the afternoon we had a short walk in a different place where we saw some beautiful creatures with pink color on their bodies, the Galápagos Greater flamingoes. The walk was very relaxed around this lagoon and at the end we arrived to a white beach covered with hundreds of marine turtle nests. This species in Galápagos is a sub species of the East Pacific green sea turtle.
Back at the National Geographic Polaris we all came with the best memories of this island, the mystery island.
