Floreana Island
A brand new day in this “lost-in-time” paradise we call Galápagos brought us to Floreana Island. This island is located in the southern part of the archipelago. For many of us early risers, a pre-breakfast outing was a must. We visited a quite unusual place called Post Office Bay. It is believed that this is the oldest post office system on this side of the Pacific Ocean. The British Captain James Colnett established a barrel there for the very first time in the year 1793. This amusing system is still used nowadays by the many visitors who arrive day after day in the bay. Notable visitors to the post office include Charles Darwin himself during his famous travel in 1835, and Herman Melville who was there in the mid-eighteen hundreds. After this short but meaningful visit we then moved onto another site near Floreana Island. We went to Champion Islet, a painteresque little island offshore Floreana. We had a couple of options, some of our guests opted for getting into the sea water to enjoy the natural wonders of the underwater world of the Galápagos. Thousands of fish of various species surrounded us at all times, and we had the chance to observe a beautiful spotted eagle ray ‘flying’ past our fearless snorkelers. Other guests decided to explore the coast of Champion Islet from the comfort of our Zodiac fleet. This rich coastline is the home to several sea bird species such as the Red-billed Tropicbird, Galápagos Shearwaters, and Swallow-tailed gulls, amongst others. And let’s not forget about the most famous inhabitant of this island: the Floreana mockingbird, an endangered species of this archipelago.
A windy afternoon awaited us, and after a very short navigation we headed for Punta Cormorant. This place is famous for its small colony of Greater flamingoes; so colorful that they are among the pinkest flamingoes in the wild worldwide. To our joy, we found out that there are new flamingo nests by the shores of the brackish lagoon they live in. At the end of the trail we had another surprise: we walked along a white beach where Pacific Green Sea turtles have one of their main nesting sites in the Galápagos. The warm sun rays of the late afternoon lit up beautifully the white coralline ‘flour-like’ beach. We are certainly privileged to be able to witness the magic of the Enchanted Islands.
A brand new day in this “lost-in-time” paradise we call Galápagos brought us to Floreana Island. This island is located in the southern part of the archipelago. For many of us early risers, a pre-breakfast outing was a must. We visited a quite unusual place called Post Office Bay. It is believed that this is the oldest post office system on this side of the Pacific Ocean. The British Captain James Colnett established a barrel there for the very first time in the year 1793. This amusing system is still used nowadays by the many visitors who arrive day after day in the bay. Notable visitors to the post office include Charles Darwin himself during his famous travel in 1835, and Herman Melville who was there in the mid-eighteen hundreds. After this short but meaningful visit we then moved onto another site near Floreana Island. We went to Champion Islet, a painteresque little island offshore Floreana. We had a couple of options, some of our guests opted for getting into the sea water to enjoy the natural wonders of the underwater world of the Galápagos. Thousands of fish of various species surrounded us at all times, and we had the chance to observe a beautiful spotted eagle ray ‘flying’ past our fearless snorkelers. Other guests decided to explore the coast of Champion Islet from the comfort of our Zodiac fleet. This rich coastline is the home to several sea bird species such as the Red-billed Tropicbird, Galápagos Shearwaters, and Swallow-tailed gulls, amongst others. And let’s not forget about the most famous inhabitant of this island: the Floreana mockingbird, an endangered species of this archipelago.
A windy afternoon awaited us, and after a very short navigation we headed for Punta Cormorant. This place is famous for its small colony of Greater flamingoes; so colorful that they are among the pinkest flamingoes in the wild worldwide. To our joy, we found out that there are new flamingo nests by the shores of the brackish lagoon they live in. At the end of the trail we had another surprise: we walked along a white beach where Pacific Green Sea turtles have one of their main nesting sites in the Galápagos. The warm sun rays of the late afternoon lit up beautifully the white coralline ‘flour-like’ beach. We are certainly privileged to be able to witness the magic of the Enchanted Islands.
