Floreana Island
Today we started off early once again; at 6.30 a.m. with a visit to the post office barrel that was erected on Floreana two centuries ago. In the1790’s, whaling Captains set up this system to facilitate the delivery of mail to England and the United States. We added our own cards this morning and took those that we could hand deliver to their destinations.
We boarded the Zodiacs for a ride along the Loberia islets searching for wildlife. We found green sea turtles, penguins, ruddy turnstones lava herons, great blue herons at a nest site, marine iguanas, and diving blue footed boobies. Wow what a marvelous start to our day!
During breakfast the Islander navigated to the islet of Champion where we snorkeled from the pangas and enjoyed huge, colorful schools of fish and playful, curious sea lions. Then we took panga rides around Champion and searched for the endemic Floreana mocking bird and the nests of the gorgeous red-billed tropicbirds.
Following lunch, siesta and a combined talk by Lynn and Meg about their island feral mammal doctorate research, the activities continued. We disembarked on the greenish olivine beach at Punta Cormorant and looked for greater flamingos, white-cheeked pintail ducks, blacknecked stilt, lesser yellow legs, and semipalmated plovers in the brackish lagoon. For the more adventurous, there was an option to kayak around Loberia in the calm, turquoise water. The day ended with a barbecue dinner on the Sky Deck and lots of latin dancing when the meal was done.
Today we started off early once again; at 6.30 a.m. with a visit to the post office barrel that was erected on Floreana two centuries ago. In the1790’s, whaling Captains set up this system to facilitate the delivery of mail to England and the United States. We added our own cards this morning and took those that we could hand deliver to their destinations.
We boarded the Zodiacs for a ride along the Loberia islets searching for wildlife. We found green sea turtles, penguins, ruddy turnstones lava herons, great blue herons at a nest site, marine iguanas, and diving blue footed boobies. Wow what a marvelous start to our day!
During breakfast the Islander navigated to the islet of Champion where we snorkeled from the pangas and enjoyed huge, colorful schools of fish and playful, curious sea lions. Then we took panga rides around Champion and searched for the endemic Floreana mocking bird and the nests of the gorgeous red-billed tropicbirds.
Following lunch, siesta and a combined talk by Lynn and Meg about their island feral mammal doctorate research, the activities continued. We disembarked on the greenish olivine beach at Punta Cormorant and looked for greater flamingos, white-cheeked pintail ducks, blacknecked stilt, lesser yellow legs, and semipalmated plovers in the brackish lagoon. For the more adventurous, there was an option to kayak around Loberia in the calm, turquoise water. The day ended with a barbecue dinner on the Sky Deck and lots of latin dancing when the meal was done.