Floreana Island

At first they appeared as little dots in the water. Little by little the dots were growing all the way to reveal a cluster of sea turtles copulating (well, at least two of them were), while the others were just the males or escorts trying to push the mating male aside. In the same way they appeared, within minutes they were gone, carried out by the currents. That was the introduction we had today upon arriving to Floreana, the southernmost island of the archipelago.

Every time we come to this place we find something outstanding happening. For instance, at the time we made our stop at Post Office Barrel – just to check on one of the very few traditions created by humans that we have on this archipelago – a flock of flamingos passed flying by at a very low altitude, creating a terrific contrast of pink against the blue ocean. The snorkeling session was also great since we enjoyed the presence of several sea lions and some interesting fish, like the stone scorpion fish.

At Punta Cormoran, our afternoon’s exploration place, we founded a couple of dozens of flamingos flying, a magnificent show that made us trample put our eyes up to the sky. We also found that the turtles have been active again and besides some tracks on the beach, there were more clusters of mating turtles around.

Late in the afternoon, right at sunset, the forest of palo santo which is the dominant tree on this area of Floreana, turned to show an incredible pink color fading as the sun disappeared below the horizon. Certainly the sun faded but our memories of what we had seen today will never ever fade, but will remain in our souls and minds, ready to be shared as soon as everyone gets back home.