Floreana Island
Exploring Floreana Island is a study in the human history of the islands. After an early morning wake-up call, we headed to the beach at 7:00 am. As we jumped into the Zodiacs we were pleasantly surprised by an aggregation of golden rays that lead us towards the sandy beach. As we began to disembark, two sting rays came into the shallows.
Floreana, or Santa Maria, was the first inhabited island of the Galápagos archipelago. The Post Office Barrel here is one of the oldest mailing systems of the western Pacific Ocean. Known by whalers, pirates and buccaneers that would land here in search or fresh water and giant tortoises, this early drop-off-and-pick-up mailing system dates back to 1973.
During the Zodiac ride around Champion Islet, we searched for the Floreana Mockingbird. Its numbers have dwindled due to introduced species. It has not had success reproducing on Floreana, so the small remaining population of “cucuves” lives on satellite islets.
Later, as we snorkeled, the sea lions were the stars of the show. They invited our guests to play and swim with them. Hundreds of colorful tropical fish contrasting the deep blue waters of the area delighted us in these enchanted islands. As we finished snorkeling and returned to the ship after having shared this incredibly friendly creature’s home, we received the message that we are able to live in harmony with ourselves and with our planet around us!
Later we landed at Punta Cormorant, which was named after a ship that wrecked in the bay back in the old days. We visited the brackish water lagoon, home of the Greater Flamingos – a Galápagos sub-species that also has only a small population. Today we know that, in general, island populations cannot grow too large. Due to its small size, this isolated archipelago can only support up to a certain number of species and individuals. Hopefully the populations of the islands will remain small as not to disturb these very unique fragile ecosystems.
