Floreana Island
Today most of us woke up earlier than usual to make a visit, before breakfast, to one of the most visited places since the 1700’s: Floreana Island’s Post Office Barrel, used by pirates, buccaneers and whalers. Nowadays it is still working, and in order to keep the “tradition” we sent postcards and letters to friends and family.
Later in the morning we got ready for snorkeling around Champion Islet. Once we were in the water, the current took us around the islet while we enjoyed the company of very large schools of fish such as blue-chin parrotfish, Galápagos mullets, King Angelfish and Razor surgeonfish. After this we headed back on board to get ready for another activity, a Zodiac ride around Champion Islet. During the ride we observed one of the Galápagos endangered bird species, the Floreana mockingbird. We spotted a couple of these rare birds hopping from one prickly pear cactus to another. We also observed Swallow tailed gulls, Nazca boobies, Brown noddy terns and the gracious Galápagos sea lions.
In the afternoon we had more activities. For the more adventurous, kayaking! For the ones that wanted to take it easy, relaxation on the beach. Later on everyone went for a hike to explore Punta Cormorant. We walked from a green sand beach (due to high amounts of olivine crystals) to a white powdery sand beach (made mainly by parrot fishes). On this beautiful white beach we found many Pacific green sea turtle (Chelonia agassizi) nests. We observed near the shore several white tipped reef sharks, golden cow rays and many sea turtles. Around a brackish water lagoon that is located in between the two beaches we spotted several Greater flamingos and some White cheeked pintail ducks.
A gorgeous sunset accompanied us on our way back to our sailing home the National Geographic Polaris. Right away we continued our voyage around this magical archipelago.
Today most of us woke up earlier than usual to make a visit, before breakfast, to one of the most visited places since the 1700’s: Floreana Island’s Post Office Barrel, used by pirates, buccaneers and whalers. Nowadays it is still working, and in order to keep the “tradition” we sent postcards and letters to friends and family.
Later in the morning we got ready for snorkeling around Champion Islet. Once we were in the water, the current took us around the islet while we enjoyed the company of very large schools of fish such as blue-chin parrotfish, Galápagos mullets, King Angelfish and Razor surgeonfish. After this we headed back on board to get ready for another activity, a Zodiac ride around Champion Islet. During the ride we observed one of the Galápagos endangered bird species, the Floreana mockingbird. We spotted a couple of these rare birds hopping from one prickly pear cactus to another. We also observed Swallow tailed gulls, Nazca boobies, Brown noddy terns and the gracious Galápagos sea lions.
In the afternoon we had more activities. For the more adventurous, kayaking! For the ones that wanted to take it easy, relaxation on the beach. Later on everyone went for a hike to explore Punta Cormorant. We walked from a green sand beach (due to high amounts of olivine crystals) to a white powdery sand beach (made mainly by parrot fishes). On this beautiful white beach we found many Pacific green sea turtle (Chelonia agassizi) nests. We observed near the shore several white tipped reef sharks, golden cow rays and many sea turtles. Around a brackish water lagoon that is located in between the two beaches we spotted several Greater flamingos and some White cheeked pintail ducks.
A gorgeous sunset accompanied us on our way back to our sailing home the National Geographic Polaris. Right away we continued our voyage around this magical archipelago.
