We began our day with a pre-breakfast walk on Punta Cormorant on Floreana Island. We disembarked on a green beach—the color comes from olivine crystals in sand. This visitor site is very interesting, not only for the volcanic landscape and the numerous tuff cones covered with sandalwood trees, but also for a brackish lagoon that holds a small colony of flamingos. Today we saw only one single flamingo, but our guests were able to learn the natural history of these fascinating birds and how they get their pink color.
Following the trail along the brackish lagoon, we saw many different endemic plants such as Lecocarpus pinnatifidus and Scalesia villosa. We also saw numerous native species such as mangroves and the colorful and spiny palo verde or Parkinsonia aculeata tree.
At the end of the trail we reached a white coral sand beach, one of the most important nesting sites for the Pacific green sea turtle, the only species nesting on Galapagos. Few turtles were in the water near the shore, but we could easily see some recent tracks of a female that probably laid her eggs last night. There were also dozens of stingrays feeding and filtering the sand near the shore and many frigatebirds flying over us, perhaps looking for something to eat like baby turtles or young marine iguanas.
After an energetic breakfast on board, our ship was repositioned near Champion islet. Here we explored by Zodiacs, looking for the unique and elusive Charles mockingbird and seabirds, such as swallow-tailed gulls, brown noody terns, blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, and the always noisy red-billed tropic birds.
Then it was time to explore the same islet but this time underwater. While snorkeling, we saw tons of colorful fish, anemones, coral, and sponges along with playful sea lions and the always respected white-tipped reef sharks.
In the afternoon and after a well-deserved lunch, we took our kayaks to explore Post Office Bay before landing and visiting this historic location with its famous wooden barrel, used for sending letters since the whaling times.
It was a fantastic day, and it was only the second day of the expedition!
