Today was a special day. To take advantage of the beauty of this marvelous Island, we started our activity very early in the morning. We landed on a sandy beach that is green because of the high concentration of olivine crystals. This beach was so peaceful with lots of playful sea lion pups waiting for their moms to come back with food. There was also an alpha male patrolling its territory, making sure no intruders invaded its harem.

We crossed a brackish lagoon featuring white pintail ducklings and pink flamingos. We also saw a few plants endemic to Floreana such as hairy-leaf scalesia, wing-fruited lecocarpus, and spotted prickly pear cactus. This was another example of how each island has its own beauty and characteristics among the more than 100 islands here in the Galápagos. We continued our adventure with a Zodiac ride to look for seabirds and the elusive Floreana mockingbird, which lives only on Champion Island off the coast of Floreana. To close our successful morning activity, some of our guests also took glass-bottom boat rides and went snorkeling in deep and shallow water.

In the afternoon, we had the chance to visit a very old and famous visitor site in the Galápagos. Post Office Bay was visited by pirates, explorers, and whalers back in the early 1800s. This place served as a communication link between whalers and their families back in Europe. We helped keep alive an ancient tradition by dropping postcards and letters in a wooden barrel, hoping that other visitors will collect them and take them back to their home countries and hand deliver, according to custom.

This visitor site has many secret channels and spectacular landscapes enjoyed by our adventurous kayakers and Zodiac riders. It was very magical to finish our day in the company of blue-footed boobies, flamingos, penguins, sea lions, pelicans, marine iguanas, turtles, and many other creatures unique to this part of the Galápagos.

On our way back to the National Geographic Endeavour, our Zodiac drivers turned off the engines so we could enjoy a majestic Galápagos sunset.