Floreana Island
The day spent on this paradisiacal island has been fabulous. A variety of activities have fulfilled every single expectation of our guests. We started off early with a visit to the famous and historical Post Office barrel on Floreana. Here you can practically feel the rich human history of this island floating on the breeze. Later in the morning, we went to Champion Islet and had the opportunity to explore the underwater world. Some of our guests went out in the glass bottom boat. Others snorkeled and a few of the more adventurous went scuba diving. We all had a terrific time! The water was very clear and there were schools of colorful fish, many sharks and curious, playful sea lions. Swimming with these marine mammals was probably the best experience of all.
In the afternoon, following a delicious and huge Ecuadorian buffet lunch, we visited Punta Cormorant. At this visitor site we admired two beaches of very different colors. There was a green beach with volcanic sand that has a high content of olivine crystals, and a white beach of organic sand made of ground up corals. Just off the white beach, we saw marine turtles. They were resting and floating patiently, waiting for the dark when they will come ashore and lay their eggs.
Another lovely sight was an idyllic lagoon where several species of birds were observed. The greater flamingos with their wonderful, contrasting colors of pink and black, were certainly very beautiful. Our naturalists pointed out several exotic plant species among the rough volcanic landscape. Small critters, like this uncommon Floreana lava lizard (Microlophus grayi), which is rarely photographed, increased our appreciation of this remote island.
The day spent on this paradisiacal island has been fabulous. A variety of activities have fulfilled every single expectation of our guests. We started off early with a visit to the famous and historical Post Office barrel on Floreana. Here you can practically feel the rich human history of this island floating on the breeze. Later in the morning, we went to Champion Islet and had the opportunity to explore the underwater world. Some of our guests went out in the glass bottom boat. Others snorkeled and a few of the more adventurous went scuba diving. We all had a terrific time! The water was very clear and there were schools of colorful fish, many sharks and curious, playful sea lions. Swimming with these marine mammals was probably the best experience of all.
In the afternoon, following a delicious and huge Ecuadorian buffet lunch, we visited Punta Cormorant. At this visitor site we admired two beaches of very different colors. There was a green beach with volcanic sand that has a high content of olivine crystals, and a white beach of organic sand made of ground up corals. Just off the white beach, we saw marine turtles. They were resting and floating patiently, waiting for the dark when they will come ashore and lay their eggs.
Another lovely sight was an idyllic lagoon where several species of birds were observed. The greater flamingos with their wonderful, contrasting colors of pink and black, were certainly very beautiful. Our naturalists pointed out several exotic plant species among the rough volcanic landscape. Small critters, like this uncommon Floreana lava lizard (Microlophus grayi), which is rarely photographed, increased our appreciation of this remote island.
