Floreana Island
Continuing our expedition, we sailed west to visit one of the most famous islands in the archipelago: Charles, Floreana or Santa Maria; yes, it has been baptized three times by British pirates, settlers and finally by the Ecuadorian government. This demonstrates that Floreana is by far the island with the richest human history.
Early in the morning we headed to Punta Cormorant. Early risers could enjoy a spectacular experience along the white beach, observing several green sea turtles crawling their heavy bodies back to the ocean, after many hours making their nests patiently. After many minutes observing those incredible creatures, finally the beach was empty, but with holes and footprints everywhere as if four wheel cars had climbed the dunes!
Back to the landing beach, we passed by the lagoon behind it. At the distance we observed American flamingoes whose bodies were reflected by the water. Their pink color contrasted with the green vegetation while other waders in a feeding frenzy ate small crustaceans. The first beams of sun began to appear behind the hills producing a perfect time to take pictures as we headed back to the National Geographic Endeavour.
After breakfast, we headed to Champion islet. Our first mission was to observe the elusive Floreana mockingbird. The population has been devastated by introduced animals along the main island of Floreana, finding their last refugee at small satellite islets around it. We observed many flying freely over the trees. Along the cliffs were swallow tailed gulls, tropical birds, Nazca boobies and sea lions, to the delightful of our guests. After that, we came back to the same islet to discover an incredible underwater world. The snorkeling was spectacular, with hundreds of colorful fish swimming indifferently around us and sea lions inviting us to play with them. What an experience!
In the afternoon we started our activities landing at Post Office Bay, a historical place well known by ancient whalers and buccaneers who installed the first mailing system in the South Pacific, a procedure that was imitated by our guests who left their postcards and took others home to hand deliver them. After that, our guests could enjoy the last activities; a Zodiac ride and kayaking along Floreana. We observed its geology with many hills everywhere. Along the shore playful sea lions chased our Zodiac. On the rocks, blue footed boobies and pelicans fished delicious food while taking advantage of the last beams of sun.
In the west the sun disappeared, and birds in the air came back to their places to rest while our guests rested, tired but happy from enjoying another beautiful day in this paradise called Galapagos.
