We are in the Galapagos Islands on board the National Geographic Endeavour, beginning what will be the trip of a life time for our guests.
Today we visited the very popular Floreana Island. This island was occupied by whalers centuries ago, when the industrial revolution in Europe and USA had just started. Hundreds of these vessels stopped Floreana Island to stock up on supplies and to hunt in its waters. Floreana would also later become the first island to be inhabited by Ecuadorians, who made it the capital long ago.
We started the day very early with a hike to a visitor site called Punta Cormorant. This place has a beautiful salt water lagoon, where flamingos come to nest from time to time, feeding on the carotenoid-rich algae. As we are in the middle of the sea turtle nesting season, we also visited a beach, looking for turtle tracks or nests. We found some very fresh tracks from females that nested the previous night, and some others from females that were hiding, avoiding males who were trying to mount them.
After seeing so much on this early morning excursion, we returned to the ship for breakfast. Afterwards, we went on Zodiac rides around Champion Islet. This area is located offshore, so it is a mandatory stop for a variety of species of fish, birds and other marine wildlife, and when we arrived we were greeted by sea lions, tropical birds, blue-footed boobies and more.
Our deep water snorkeling excursion was fantastic; sea turtles, sharks and many tropical fish were the entertainment of the outing. Some opted instead to go for a ride in our glass-bottomed boat, to explore the marine life in a different way.
In the afternoon, we moved to Post Office bay, the most famous visitor site on Floreana due to the tradition of hand delivering post cards. We started our afternoon with water activities; first our kayakers departed to explore the coast of this place, while others opted for a Zodiac ride to pursue baby sharks, sea turtles and rays. Later we all met at the popular barrel to leave post cards, or pick up a few to hand deliver back home. This tradition is always enjoyable for visitors, and we hope that this fantastic day lives on in their memories of the mysterious and wonderful Galapagos Islands.
