Floreana Island
 
The mystery island of Floreana looked cloudy during the early hours of the morning; nonetheless we all were ready to go by seven to visit the famous Post Office Bay and its hidden barrel.
 
This location falls on the category of historical, since many events happened here (some of them are considered “unsolved mysteries”) when this location was used as a refuge for pirates, buccaneers and whalers. We presumed that by 1793 a Captain from the British Royal Navy named James Collnet got the initiative to set a wooden wine barrel on the upper grounds of the beach. Leaving letters on the box was the only way for the crew of those ships to be in contact with civilization. Those letters would be taken then by vessels heading back home and it was a matter of honor to deliver them securely to their destinations. Apparently, this was taken very seriously by our guests, since continuing with the ancient whaling tradition quite a few of them took the responsibility to hand deliver letters found in the barrel today.
 
Our next visit was scheduled for after breakfast, arriving to a location known as Champion Islet. This is a satellite island located off the shore the main island of Floreana where we experienced one of the most fascinating marine ecosystems. Playful sea lion, a huge school of King Angel Fish, White tipped reef sharks and countless species of tropical fish was only few of the species that we could see during our snorkeling outing; this was coupled by a Zodiac cruise around the island in order to see the rare and elusive Charles Mocking Bird.
 
The afternoon was just as extraordinary as the morning; we landed on what we called the green beach to explore fully its surroundings. A short walk took us to a brackish water lagoon to see the highlight of the visit, the greater flamingoes.  Afterwards, we hiked to “the other side” of Punta Cormorant and watched the green sea turtle nesting grounds attentively, looking for some activity. We did not see any turtle hatch but we saw for sure some of them very close to the shoreline.
 
We came back to our good ship Polaris just before the sun set down commenting on what a nice day we just had!