Floreana Island is the southernmost island in the Galapagos. It’s also well known for the occurrence of mysterious events of its early inhabitants. One example is the story of a woman from Germany who settled here with three lovers. One was Ecuadorian and two had arrived with her from Europe. One day both woman and one lover disappeared without a trace, and soon after others followed the same path of tragedy.
Before breakfast we headed onto the beach for a short hike through a greenish-brown sand with some olivine crystal consider semi-precious stones and a brackish water lagoon with greater flamingoes, the noble inhabitants of this paradise that are usually in the company of pintail ducks and black-necked stilts.
The trail ended at a white coralline sandy beach where green sea turtles nest through the year and where diamond rays concentrate by the hundreds along the shore under the breaking waves, sally light -foot crabs give a touch of color to the dark lava.
Back aboard for breakfast we started to navigate to a small Island called Champion, where we disembarked for a Zodiac ride for a search for interesting wildlife such us sea lion, boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, brown noddies, red-billed tropic birds and others. But we searched for one in particular, the elusive Chatham mockingbird, which became extinct on the main island due to predation by introduced animals.
We came back on board to get ready for another exciting activity - snorkeling at one of the best destinations, where large schools of fish are found, such as parrot fish, king angel fish, invertebrates, echinoderms, even sharks sometimes. But what we enjoyed the most was swimming with sea lions. It was a great morning.
Our next destination, Post Office Bay, was waiting for us after lunch and a deserved siesta. Here sits a wine barrel, supposedly erected in 1790’s, that has been used to communicate with home by pirates and others as they were away for years at a time. We still follow the tradition, so we write postcards, take them there, put in the barrel, and other fellow travelers going there will pick them up and hand deliver the messages. Last, some additional activities were offered, such as a Zodiac ride around the Island, where lots of sea lions and birds and turtles hang out. Some others kayaked for some exercise and to watch the wildlife.
