Floreana Island
Floreana is located in the southern part of the Galápagos and it has a small human settlement. In fact, this island has had human settlements since the 1830s, when Ecuador took possession of the whole archipelago.
Today we visited Post Office Bay on the north side of Floreana. Here we have the legendary post office barrel that was placed back in 1793 by an English captain named James Colnett, in order to facilitate the communications among whale hunters and their relatives back in England.
At the end of this early visit we returned to the National Geographic Islander and moments later we anchored at Champion Islet for a Zodiac ride. The wildlife of the place is incredible: there are birds, sea lions, and an amazing variety of tropical fish and sea stars.
Champion Islet is one of the best snorkeling sited in the entire Galápagos. Proof of that is the variety of fish of the place and the number of sea lions of all ages. We snorkeled for around one hour and we found ourselves surrounded by thousands of fish and some curious sea lions and we even saw a white tipped reef shark!
In the afternoon we had the opportunity for kayaking and exploring the place at our own rhythm. Along the volcanic landscape of Punta Cormorant, we had blue footed boobies right in front of us perching on the cliffs.
The last activity was a long walk along the shore of a lagoon that is home to a breeding population of flamingos. It really was a marvelous day full of highlights.
