Floreana Island
The landscape of the mysterious island of the archipelago, Floreana, looked very inviting to us early risers. The hilly outline of this place was adorned with the dormant ‘Palo Santo’ or incense trees, typical of the arid zones of this area. Hidden behind a white beach we found the famous Post Office barrel, the earliest unofficial Post Office of this side of the Pacific. It was established here by Captain James Colnett, a British whaler, in 1793. Ever since, it has been used by the thousands of past and present visitors to the islands, as a way to mail their letters and postcards, and without a stamp! We then left this very picturesque site, and as we embarked on the Zodiacs, many of us were lucky enough to observe the Galapagos penguin for the very first time. This small flightless bird entertained us by competing with a young brown Pelican for the same school of fish. During the panga ride at the Sea Lion Nursery islets—or ‘Loberia’, as it is called in Spanish—we saw dozens of very young Galapagos Sea Lion pups, safely playing in the shallow waters.
The next activity was snorkeling around an islet not far away from the Floreana coast, called Champion. Both bay and drift snorkelers enjoyed the experience that fascinates all visitors to the Galapagos waters: swimming with the sea lions! They really showed off their wonderful swimming skills!
Either from the water or from the Zodiacs, we could appreciate the various seabird species that dominate Champion Island: red-billed tropic birds, swallow-tailed gulls, brown noddies amongst others. But the species we were all in search of, was the elusive Floreana mockingbird. The population of this endemic landbird has been decimated by feral species on Floreana, but it has found a safe heaven on its satellite islands.
After a well-deserved breakfast, we prepared for our next landing at Punta Cormorant. It was a very peaceful afternoon. We saw landbirds as well as lagoonbirds in the area. The Greater Flamingos that have been nesting in the shores of the brackish lagoon over the last few weeks have finally produced a whitish fluffy chick, and some had also abandoned an egg. Galapagos flycatchers followed us for a little while, until we arrived in the ‘Flour’ beach, its dunes full of recent turtle nests. Beautiful yellow warblers flew past our groups. A last walk beside the lagoon of Punta Cormorant revealed a few semi-palmated sandpipers, as well as resident black-necked stilts.
As we left the place, several sea lions approached our Zodiacs, as if they were inviting us to play with them one more time.
The landscape of the mysterious island of the archipelago, Floreana, looked very inviting to us early risers. The hilly outline of this place was adorned with the dormant ‘Palo Santo’ or incense trees, typical of the arid zones of this area. Hidden behind a white beach we found the famous Post Office barrel, the earliest unofficial Post Office of this side of the Pacific. It was established here by Captain James Colnett, a British whaler, in 1793. Ever since, it has been used by the thousands of past and present visitors to the islands, as a way to mail their letters and postcards, and without a stamp! We then left this very picturesque site, and as we embarked on the Zodiacs, many of us were lucky enough to observe the Galapagos penguin for the very first time. This small flightless bird entertained us by competing with a young brown Pelican for the same school of fish. During the panga ride at the Sea Lion Nursery islets—or ‘Loberia’, as it is called in Spanish—we saw dozens of very young Galapagos Sea Lion pups, safely playing in the shallow waters.
The next activity was snorkeling around an islet not far away from the Floreana coast, called Champion. Both bay and drift snorkelers enjoyed the experience that fascinates all visitors to the Galapagos waters: swimming with the sea lions! They really showed off their wonderful swimming skills!
Either from the water or from the Zodiacs, we could appreciate the various seabird species that dominate Champion Island: red-billed tropic birds, swallow-tailed gulls, brown noddies amongst others. But the species we were all in search of, was the elusive Floreana mockingbird. The population of this endemic landbird has been decimated by feral species on Floreana, but it has found a safe heaven on its satellite islands.
After a well-deserved breakfast, we prepared for our next landing at Punta Cormorant. It was a very peaceful afternoon. We saw landbirds as well as lagoonbirds in the area. The Greater Flamingos that have been nesting in the shores of the brackish lagoon over the last few weeks have finally produced a whitish fluffy chick, and some had also abandoned an egg. Galapagos flycatchers followed us for a little while, until we arrived in the ‘Flour’ beach, its dunes full of recent turtle nests. Beautiful yellow warblers flew past our groups. A last walk beside the lagoon of Punta Cormorant revealed a few semi-palmated sandpipers, as well as resident black-necked stilts.
As we left the place, several sea lions approached our Zodiacs, as if they were inviting us to play with them one more time.
