Floreana Island
Today we woke up to a bright and warm morning. Our first visit of the day was Post Office Bay. This has been the landing place to many visitors in the Galápagos’ historic past, amongst them Charles Darwin himself, who landed here during his famous visit during September 1835. Darwin, together with the crew of The Beagle, stopped here to make use of the Post Office barrel, which was already in service in those days. Sailors in the era pre-stamps would drop their correspondence in this barrel, which would be delivered eventually by other ships heading for home, either Britain or the US. Nowadays, this traditional postal service is still kept by the visitors to the islands, like us, who today placed some postcards hoping that they will be delivered to their rightful owners in the near future.
Afterwards, National Geographic Polaris sailed to our next visitor’s site: Champion Islet. This small, semi-eroded crater is the home to one of the most endangered land bird species, the Floreana mockingbird. This population became extinct on the island of Floreana, to which it was an endemic species, due to feral introduced animals. With a population of just 150 pairs, it still survives on the offshore islets of this island. During our Zodiac cruise, we were lucky enough to observe several of these unique land birds. Champion is also a superb place for snorkeling: several young Galápagos sea lions kept approaching us with playful moves, while large schools of fish surrounded us.
In the afternoon, some of our guests had the opportunity to experience nature from their kayaks in the bay of Punta Cormorant, north of Floreana. Afterwards, there was some time to relax and swim at the beach before the walk. A large, brackish lagoon is the habitat to a small colony of greater flamingos, a resident species to the Galápagos, which we were able to observe not far from the trail. A stunning white sand beach with turquoise waters is found at the far end of this walk. This beach is an important nesting site for the Pacific Green sea turtles, and dozens of nests were still visible on the sand dunes. But it was time to go back on board National Geographic Polaris, as the sun sets quite fast being so close to the equator. We can’t wait to live the new adventures tomorrow will bring!
Today we woke up to a bright and warm morning. Our first visit of the day was Post Office Bay. This has been the landing place to many visitors in the Galápagos’ historic past, amongst them Charles Darwin himself, who landed here during his famous visit during September 1835. Darwin, together with the crew of The Beagle, stopped here to make use of the Post Office barrel, which was already in service in those days. Sailors in the era pre-stamps would drop their correspondence in this barrel, which would be delivered eventually by other ships heading for home, either Britain or the US. Nowadays, this traditional postal service is still kept by the visitors to the islands, like us, who today placed some postcards hoping that they will be delivered to their rightful owners in the near future.
Afterwards, National Geographic Polaris sailed to our next visitor’s site: Champion Islet. This small, semi-eroded crater is the home to one of the most endangered land bird species, the Floreana mockingbird. This population became extinct on the island of Floreana, to which it was an endemic species, due to feral introduced animals. With a population of just 150 pairs, it still survives on the offshore islets of this island. During our Zodiac cruise, we were lucky enough to observe several of these unique land birds. Champion is also a superb place for snorkeling: several young Galápagos sea lions kept approaching us with playful moves, while large schools of fish surrounded us.
In the afternoon, some of our guests had the opportunity to experience nature from their kayaks in the bay of Punta Cormorant, north of Floreana. Afterwards, there was some time to relax and swim at the beach before the walk. A large, brackish lagoon is the habitat to a small colony of greater flamingos, a resident species to the Galápagos, which we were able to observe not far from the trail. A stunning white sand beach with turquoise waters is found at the far end of this walk. This beach is an important nesting site for the Pacific Green sea turtles, and dozens of nests were still visible on the sand dunes. But it was time to go back on board National Geographic Polaris, as the sun sets quite fast being so close to the equator. We can’t wait to live the new adventures tomorrow will bring!
