Floreana Island
We had a wonderful day, full of new experiences for all of us on board, starting early this morning when we went to shore to look trough all the mail in the very famous Post Office Barrel. The tradition of leaving letters started a long time ago, perhaps around 1793. The mail left here by whalers and sailors was efficiently collected by those same people on their way back home and the most important function of these visitors was to hand deliver all these letters.
Try to imagine yourself being so far away from home for many years, without all of the comfort of your house, no television, no news papers, or telephone. That is exactly the situation these brave sailors of centuries past had for a long time. Therefore the only way to send some news to their families was through this little barrel. It must have been really exciting for their relatives to get some information about their fathers, husbands, and sons.
We left our letters and postcards inside the barrel, and some of our guests took a few with them too. They are going to hand deliver those, to continue with this wonderful and very old tradition.
We then got in our Zodiacs (locally known as Pangas) and had the best time looking for some wild life.
The seas were superb, very calm and smooth, some breeze and Garua (mist) gave us the feeling of being in a dream: there was even an outstanding rainbow. There we found Galapagos sea lions, great blue herons, magnificent frigate birds, and all of the sudden we found a couple of Pacific green sea turtles locked in mating position—it was surprising to see it happening right in front of our Zodiacs, especially at this time of the year. We spent some time watching them and later returned to the Polaris where we had a very delicious breakfast. Our many different options continued through the day.
We took part in all kinds of activities, from snorkeling to glass-bottom boating, Zodiac rides, and everyone came with a story to tell about their experiences with sealions, different types of fish, sea stars of beautiful colors, or just the incredible clearness of the water.
The afternoon took us through a deciduous forest of Palo Santo, Mesquite, Acacias, Candelabra Cactus, until we reached the lagoon where flamingos are observed. Their colorful and bright pink plumage is particularly striking when contrasting against the stark, dry volcanic landscape.
We had a wonderful day, full of new experiences for all of us on board, starting early this morning when we went to shore to look trough all the mail in the very famous Post Office Barrel. The tradition of leaving letters started a long time ago, perhaps around 1793. The mail left here by whalers and sailors was efficiently collected by those same people on their way back home and the most important function of these visitors was to hand deliver all these letters.
Try to imagine yourself being so far away from home for many years, without all of the comfort of your house, no television, no news papers, or telephone. That is exactly the situation these brave sailors of centuries past had for a long time. Therefore the only way to send some news to their families was through this little barrel. It must have been really exciting for their relatives to get some information about their fathers, husbands, and sons.
We left our letters and postcards inside the barrel, and some of our guests took a few with them too. They are going to hand deliver those, to continue with this wonderful and very old tradition.
We then got in our Zodiacs (locally known as Pangas) and had the best time looking for some wild life.
The seas were superb, very calm and smooth, some breeze and Garua (mist) gave us the feeling of being in a dream: there was even an outstanding rainbow. There we found Galapagos sea lions, great blue herons, magnificent frigate birds, and all of the sudden we found a couple of Pacific green sea turtles locked in mating position—it was surprising to see it happening right in front of our Zodiacs, especially at this time of the year. We spent some time watching them and later returned to the Polaris where we had a very delicious breakfast. Our many different options continued through the day.
We took part in all kinds of activities, from snorkeling to glass-bottom boating, Zodiac rides, and everyone came with a story to tell about their experiences with sealions, different types of fish, sea stars of beautiful colors, or just the incredible clearness of the water.
The afternoon took us through a deciduous forest of Palo Santo, Mesquite, Acacias, Candelabra Cactus, until we reached the lagoon where flamingos are observed. Their colorful and bright pink plumage is particularly striking when contrasting against the stark, dry volcanic landscape.
