Floreana and Isabela Islands
One of the fun things about visiting Floreana is getting up early in the morning to get to know a landmark of the human history of the Galápagos, a historical mailing place set up by whalers in the late 18th century, and it was a very effective way to keep in touch with family and was even often used for official business. This tradition has been kept up to this day, and travelers through the Galápagos can still leave mail in the old barrel, to be hand delivered by other adventurers – a system often deemed more efficient than the official mailing system here!
Later on, we repositioned to the picturesque Champion Islet, an old volcanic cone to north side of Floreana Island, rising up about 300 feet from the sea floor. Despite being often swept by relatively strong currents, it is considered by all of our naturalists as being one of the very best snorkeling sites in the central archipelago. The underwater cliffs are covered in black coral and teeming with colorful reef fish, and the occasional shark, turtle and ray. But best of all are the dozens of young curious sea lions that leave their colony to come check out these strange intruders into their aquatic world. In this place, all our wildest expectations for snorkeling are always met!
The Galápagos Archipelago, lost in the Pacific Ocean and straddling the equator line, receives many currents from different directions, bringing fauna from different biogeographical regions to this remote place. The fishes of the islands illustrate this phenomenon perfectly, as up to forty percent of the fish come from Central America, about ten percent from South America and a small percentage from the Indo-Pacific.
You could say that by coming to snorkel or dive in the Galápagos and seeing different fish from different oceans in the same place at the same time, one saves both money and time as one needs to travel less!
And today, Champion lived up to its reputation as we saw thousands of fishes and many young sea lions coming up, ready to play with our guests.
One of the fun things about visiting Floreana is getting up early in the morning to get to know a landmark of the human history of the Galápagos, a historical mailing place set up by whalers in the late 18th century, and it was a very effective way to keep in touch with family and was even often used for official business. This tradition has been kept up to this day, and travelers through the Galápagos can still leave mail in the old barrel, to be hand delivered by other adventurers – a system often deemed more efficient than the official mailing system here!
Later on, we repositioned to the picturesque Champion Islet, an old volcanic cone to north side of Floreana Island, rising up about 300 feet from the sea floor. Despite being often swept by relatively strong currents, it is considered by all of our naturalists as being one of the very best snorkeling sites in the central archipelago. The underwater cliffs are covered in black coral and teeming with colorful reef fish, and the occasional shark, turtle and ray. But best of all are the dozens of young curious sea lions that leave their colony to come check out these strange intruders into their aquatic world. In this place, all our wildest expectations for snorkeling are always met!
The Galápagos Archipelago, lost in the Pacific Ocean and straddling the equator line, receives many currents from different directions, bringing fauna from different biogeographical regions to this remote place. The fishes of the islands illustrate this phenomenon perfectly, as up to forty percent of the fish come from Central America, about ten percent from South America and a small percentage from the Indo-Pacific.
You could say that by coming to snorkel or dive in the Galápagos and seeing different fish from different oceans in the same place at the same time, one saves both money and time as one needs to travel less!
And today, Champion lived up to its reputation as we saw thousands of fishes and many young sea lions coming up, ready to play with our guests.
