This journey brings us to new and exciting contrasts at every turn as we awaken at Cormorant Point on Floreana Island. An early morning landing awaits us as the clouds rise and a sparkling olivine beach is underfoot. The slowly rising sound of Darwin finches and Galapagos flycatchers tells us that nature never stops as we note a strange call in the distance. After crossing an isthmus, we find a white sand beach with remnants of last season’s nests from the Pacific green sea turtle. Small semi terrestrial hermit crabs patrol the dunes looking for sustenance. The occasional frigate bird flies overhead also searching for food. As we get close to the shoreline we notice diamond stingrays feeding in the shallows with the wave action upturning small crustaceans allowing the stingrays to feed. As we return to our landing beach we pass by a brackish pond that has various greater flamingos feeding in the shallows and we realize that they were making the strange call previously. The small population of greater flamingos feeds among the brackish ponds of the Galapagos and obtain a bright coloration due to the brine shrimp it is feeding upon. Along a small cliff area, we notice various blue footed booby pairs raising chicks. A female blue footed booby returns from feeding and takes over the nest with a newly hatched chick and egg awaiting it. As we return to the ship all of us note the drastic difference between the previous island and the new expression of this one. As we navigate to Champion Islet we are able to do a Zodiac ride to search for the elusive Floreana mockingbird which is a rare species with only a few hundred individuals on a couple of satellite islands of Floreana. The National Park Service with international help is working on the restoration of Floreana Island which includes elimination of destructive invasive species so that this species may eventually return to its original home range. We eventually enter into the water for deep-water snorkeling along champion and we find an abundance of life as we swim among white tipped reef sharks, Pacific green sea turtles, large schools of king angelfish, and of course the ever present Galapagos sea lion.
Our Captain John navigates the National Geographic Endeavour into the afternoon so we may explore Post Office Bay with a combination of kayaking and zodiac rides. There are spotted eagle rays and Pacific green sea turtles found in the shallows. Eventually we land at the post office and we are able to visit the oldest postal system in the Americas and in the Pacific. Keeping this tradition alive we are able to take postcards to be hand-delivered as our guests return to their home countries and then we are able to leave our postcards to eventually be delivered keeping this tradition alive. The sun dips into the horizon and we are content as this expedition continues into the most incredible places of the Galapagos Archipelago.
