Today we arrived at Floreana Island on the southern realm of Galapagos. Our day started with a pre-breakfast outing to Punta Cormorant. This morning we landed on a green olivine beach and our goal was to look for Greater flamingoes and to reach “La Picona” beach where Pacific green sea turtles nest every year. As we started to walk along the trail we got to a brackish water lagoon where we spotted about fifty flamingoes, some of which were nesting while others were actively feeding on brine shrimp. At “La Picona” beach we observed from the shore several diamond stingrays well camouflaged in the sand which were pushed back and forth by the small waves. Nearby some green sea turtles were swimming and raising their heads out of the water to breathe.
After this excursion we returned to the National Geographic Islander to have breakfast and to head towards Champion Islet. As we arrived at Champion we got into our Zodiacs and traveled along the coast to look for Galapagos sea lions, blue footed boobies, and the very elusive Floreana mockingbird. After this Zodiac ride we returned aboard once more to get ready to snorkel along the coast of Champion. This is one of the most spectacular places to snorkel and here we observed different species of fish in large schools, playful sea lions, and colorful marine invertebrates.
This afternoon we arrived at Post Office Bay where we went ashore to look for postcards left there by previous visitors. This follows the tradition of the whalers who used this place to leave mail and to pick-up letters with the mission of hand-delivering it to the different ports. As we finished with the postcards we boarded our Zodiacs once more to explore “La Loberia” where Galapagos sea lions, Pacific green sea turtles and Galapagos penguins were spotted. We also had the chance to explore “La Loberia” by kayak and it was great fun to observe the wildlife and the gorgeous landscape around us.
It was another successful day in Galapagos!
