Floreana and Puerto Villamil, Isabela Island
Human history plays an important role in the Galápagos Islands. Today we visited Post Office Bay, a legendary site on Floreana Island. For hundreds of years the archipelago was frequented by pirates, whale hunters, seal hunters and many other early voyagers and all of them passed by Floreana paying a visit to the barrel because that was the only way to have a link with their counterparts back home. Today modern visitors keep the tradition, leaving behind and picking up postcards to eventually hand deliver in the way it worked long ago.
After the early visit to Post Office Bay we set off for Champion Island where we had the opportunity to snorkel. This site is stunning due to the abundance of life. It is the perfect combination of deep and shallow areas and each location with a particular attraction: like reef fish searching for food on the rocky reefs, others guarding their territories and others nearly invisible waiting to ambush prey as well as many invertebrates like sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and many others. The highlight of the place was the ever-charming Galápagos sea lions that delighted the snorkelers showing their swimming skills and acrobatics.
Late afternoon we were disembarking on Isabela Island and visiting the little village of Puerto Villamil, which is located on the flanks of an active volcano. This is the only place in the Galápagos where you can feel you are on a tropical island due to many ingredients: white sandy roads, palm trees, the wetlands with the many species of birds such as ducks, common stilts, gallinules and flamingos. But this wasn’t all; outside the village there is a giant tortoise breeding center managed by the Galápagos National Park, the chief institution that works for conservation, and their goal is to restore the endangered populations of these giant reptiles.
Concluding this visit, we headed for the beach to enjoy the waves till sunset. On the first day of this new year, it seemed the entire town of Villamil was also enjoying the sun, sand and waves with us.
Human history plays an important role in the Galápagos Islands. Today we visited Post Office Bay, a legendary site on Floreana Island. For hundreds of years the archipelago was frequented by pirates, whale hunters, seal hunters and many other early voyagers and all of them passed by Floreana paying a visit to the barrel because that was the only way to have a link with their counterparts back home. Today modern visitors keep the tradition, leaving behind and picking up postcards to eventually hand deliver in the way it worked long ago.
After the early visit to Post Office Bay we set off for Champion Island where we had the opportunity to snorkel. This site is stunning due to the abundance of life. It is the perfect combination of deep and shallow areas and each location with a particular attraction: like reef fish searching for food on the rocky reefs, others guarding their territories and others nearly invisible waiting to ambush prey as well as many invertebrates like sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and many others. The highlight of the place was the ever-charming Galápagos sea lions that delighted the snorkelers showing their swimming skills and acrobatics.
Late afternoon we were disembarking on Isabela Island and visiting the little village of Puerto Villamil, which is located on the flanks of an active volcano. This is the only place in the Galápagos where you can feel you are on a tropical island due to many ingredients: white sandy roads, palm trees, the wetlands with the many species of birds such as ducks, common stilts, gallinules and flamingos. But this wasn’t all; outside the village there is a giant tortoise breeding center managed by the Galápagos National Park, the chief institution that works for conservation, and their goal is to restore the endangered populations of these giant reptiles.
Concluding this visit, we headed for the beach to enjoy the waves till sunset. On the first day of this new year, it seemed the entire town of Villamil was also enjoying the sun, sand and waves with us.
