Floreana Island
Floreana is one of my favorite islands, not only for its colorful human history, that goes back almost two centuries ago, but also for its volcanic landscape, dotted with numerous extinct volcanic cones and its unique endemic vegetation.
We started our day with an optional early outing to Post Office Barrel, an old mail swap tradition that goes back to whaling days. This post office was placed here around 1793, by the English captain, James Colnett, who came to the islands to investigate the possibility of whaling. The barrel was originally set up to facilitate the delivery of mail to England and the United States. Letters and messages were left in the barrel to be picked up by homebound ships and eventually delivered to their destinations. Many times replaced, the actual barrel constantly receive hundreds of letters and postcards from visitors from all over the world, and of course, to keep this tradition alive, our guests deliver their own mail, and collected some to hand deliver it one day, hopefully soon!
After the early outing and a good breakfast, National Geographic Endeavour changed position and moved near Champion, a satellite islet of Floreana. This is one of the few islets where the small population of the elusive Charles of Floreana mockingbird (perhaps less than 200 individuals) extinct on the main island, still exists. No more than 50 mockingbirds are found in Champion Islet so we felt very fortunate to spot a couple of them.
After our Zodiac ride, we had the chance to go for a fantastic “drift snorkeling” adventure in the waters around Champion. We were amazed by the incredible amount and diversity of fish we saw such as: yellow tail surgeons, king angels, dusky chubs, Galápagos grunts, all of them feeding near the surface where thousands of fish eggs and many different types of aquatic organisms were drifting in the current. Fish were so abundant that we had the impression of being in an aquarium!
Those who did not go into the water had the chance to also see the underwater world, but from our glass-bottom boat.
Once back on board, a delicious hot chocolate was waiting for us to warm up and replenish energy!
The afternoon was also very busy, with many activities – the beach for the younger and curious explorers, kayak for the more athletic, and a nice and smooth walk for all who wanted to see the very special vegetation of Floreana. Its particular volcanic landscape boasts a beautiful white coral sand beach, which serves as a nesting site for the Pacific green sea turtle and a feeding area for sting rays.
At 9:00pm, the day was not over, and after our traditional daily recap and a well-deserved dinner, our guests had the chance to hear a little bit more about the mysterious human history of Floreana that goes from marooned whalers to prisoners and colonists, and from a toothless dentist to a self-proclaimed empress…
