Floreana Island
The National Geographic Islander brought us to the southeast part of the archipelago at Floreana Island. This island is one of the oldest, and it is among the richest in human history as well. Being that it is so old, many species have adapted to the specific conditions of this area, and they have become endemic to the island.
We started our visit with a look back in time; we imagined the whaler’s times when Captain James Colnett came from England to study the possibility of setting up a whaling harbor in Galápagos. When they departed the archipelago, they’d established a new system of communication: the Post Office Barrel. We continued the tradition of looking in the barrel for postcards left by other visitors that we could hand deliver, and of course we dropped off some of our own postcards to be hand-delivered by future visitors.
The next activity on our agenda was snorkeling. Champion Islet is a treasure in the middle of the Pacific for people who like underwater life. Galápagos sea lions were spotted and hundreds of fish entertained us with their colors. Leaving Champion Islet for Floreana, a whale was spotted, and we all went to the outside decks only to be surprise as there were actually two whales! A mother and its baby: humpback whales! We enjoyed their presence for a long time, observing every time they came to the surface to breathe, and just when we decided to continue with our navigation a large pod of bottlenose dolphins came to join us! There was such an excitement that we almost forgot about our lunch!
In the afternoon we returned to Floreana Island, this time to visit Cormorant Point. The walk took us from a green inorganic beach to a white organic beach. At the white beach we saw golden and diamond rays very close to shore. Finally we enjoyed an amazing sunset, and with all these colors behind we left Floreana Island and headed for a new adventure tomorrow.
