Floreana Island
After a couple of magical days in the strange, unique environments of the western archipelago, we return to more familiar-looking islands. Floreana is the fifth largest of the Galápagos Islands, and has an enchanting profile of green rolling hills as well as a lot more vegetation and less of the stark lava flows of the newer, more active islands.
Of the four inhabited Galápagos Islands, Floreana has by far the smallest population, at just under one hundred inhabitants. However, it’s a relatively welcoming aspect, coupled with the fact that it has fresh water springs in the highlands and good terrain for growing domestic plants, has meant that historically it was the first island to become inhabited. Floreana was home to the first ever Galápagos “inhabitant”, a crazy Irishman thrown off a whaling ship in 1809 named Patrick Watkins, and later (once the islands were claimed by Ecuador in 1832) was the site of a large penal colony that Charles Darwin encountered in 1835.
This relatively early human presence has taken its toll however, and the Floreana wildlife and ecosystems are among the most impacted in the archipelago: its extinction casualties even include an endemic variety of giant tortoise. It was, therefore, a great joy to learn this morning that the “Floreana Project”, aiming at the ecological restoration of this beautiful island, had been initiated. By using the technology recently acquired in the goat eradication programs of Santiago and Isabela (two of the Galápagos’ largest islands), over 98% of the feral goats and burros that wreak such havoc with fragile island ecosystems have been eradicated!
All this is strictly behind the scenes, however, and we would have never guessed at it as we enjoyed a day of the best snorkeling Galápagos has to offer, a lagoon filled with colourful flamingos, and a startlingly white sandy beach that is a great favourite with nesting green sea turtles at this time of the year.
A wonderful day was celebrated under a full moon with a BBQ dinner up on our sky deck – and the Galápagos magic strikes again!
After a couple of magical days in the strange, unique environments of the western archipelago, we return to more familiar-looking islands. Floreana is the fifth largest of the Galápagos Islands, and has an enchanting profile of green rolling hills as well as a lot more vegetation and less of the stark lava flows of the newer, more active islands.
Of the four inhabited Galápagos Islands, Floreana has by far the smallest population, at just under one hundred inhabitants. However, it’s a relatively welcoming aspect, coupled with the fact that it has fresh water springs in the highlands and good terrain for growing domestic plants, has meant that historically it was the first island to become inhabited. Floreana was home to the first ever Galápagos “inhabitant”, a crazy Irishman thrown off a whaling ship in 1809 named Patrick Watkins, and later (once the islands were claimed by Ecuador in 1832) was the site of a large penal colony that Charles Darwin encountered in 1835.
This relatively early human presence has taken its toll however, and the Floreana wildlife and ecosystems are among the most impacted in the archipelago: its extinction casualties even include an endemic variety of giant tortoise. It was, therefore, a great joy to learn this morning that the “Floreana Project”, aiming at the ecological restoration of this beautiful island, had been initiated. By using the technology recently acquired in the goat eradication programs of Santiago and Isabela (two of the Galápagos’ largest islands), over 98% of the feral goats and burros that wreak such havoc with fragile island ecosystems have been eradicated!
All this is strictly behind the scenes, however, and we would have never guessed at it as we enjoyed a day of the best snorkeling Galápagos has to offer, a lagoon filled with colourful flamingos, and a startlingly white sandy beach that is a great favourite with nesting green sea turtles at this time of the year.
A wonderful day was celebrated under a full moon with a BBQ dinner up on our sky deck – and the Galápagos magic strikes again!
