Floreana and Santa Cruz Islands
We woke up this morning with the view of the hilly outline of Floreana Island, which now looks emerald green, as the rainy season settles in. For those early risers, we prepared an outing to visit the famous and very picturesque Post Office barrel, the oldest postal system this side of the Pacific Ocean. Still in use by visitors to the islands nowadays, we deposited our postcards addressed to relatives and friends, with the hope that they will be picked up and hand-delivered by later visitors in the future. We then continued our visit with a Zodiac ride around a nearby group of islets, searching for more wildlife. We soon met a fearless Galapagos penguin in the water, busy chasing after some breakfast. The sea lions were just starting to become more and more active, and a few pups played with one other around us. A greater flamingo amazed us with the elegance of its flight, before it landed in the nearby brackish lagoon. Back on board, the Polaris undertook a short navigation to Champion Islet, off the coast of Floreana. The beauty of this little islet this week was brightened by hundreds of yellow prickly pear cactus flowers. In the water, during our snorkeling outing, curious and playful sea lions entertained us with their pirouettes!
Due to circumstance, we changed our schedule of the day and made our way to Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz Island. Everybody was excited about our visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station to see the giant tortoises! We landed at the Galapagos National Park dock, and walked through a beautiful Opuntia and Candelabra cactus forest, following a path that led us to the breeding areas and corrals of the Galapagos giant tortoises. We had the opportunity to see the young tortoises, scattered in the large corral that will be their home until they are ready to be deposited back in their original islands. The imposing size of the male dome-carapaced tortoises impressed more than one. In the nearby corral, the peaceful-looking face of a sleeping saddle-backed male made us all smile.
Soon, it was time to come back on board, and share all the wonderful experiences and memories of the day.
We woke up this morning with the view of the hilly outline of Floreana Island, which now looks emerald green, as the rainy season settles in. For those early risers, we prepared an outing to visit the famous and very picturesque Post Office barrel, the oldest postal system this side of the Pacific Ocean. Still in use by visitors to the islands nowadays, we deposited our postcards addressed to relatives and friends, with the hope that they will be picked up and hand-delivered by later visitors in the future. We then continued our visit with a Zodiac ride around a nearby group of islets, searching for more wildlife. We soon met a fearless Galapagos penguin in the water, busy chasing after some breakfast. The sea lions were just starting to become more and more active, and a few pups played with one other around us. A greater flamingo amazed us with the elegance of its flight, before it landed in the nearby brackish lagoon. Back on board, the Polaris undertook a short navigation to Champion Islet, off the coast of Floreana. The beauty of this little islet this week was brightened by hundreds of yellow prickly pear cactus flowers. In the water, during our snorkeling outing, curious and playful sea lions entertained us with their pirouettes!
Due to circumstance, we changed our schedule of the day and made our way to Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz Island. Everybody was excited about our visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station to see the giant tortoises! We landed at the Galapagos National Park dock, and walked through a beautiful Opuntia and Candelabra cactus forest, following a path that led us to the breeding areas and corrals of the Galapagos giant tortoises. We had the opportunity to see the young tortoises, scattered in the large corral that will be their home until they are ready to be deposited back in their original islands. The imposing size of the male dome-carapaced tortoises impressed more than one. In the nearby corral, the peaceful-looking face of a sleeping saddle-backed male made us all smile.
Soon, it was time to come back on board, and share all the wonderful experiences and memories of the day.
