Floreana, also known as Charles or Santa Maria, is a peaceful island in the southern area of the Galapagos Archipelago. It is one of the four inhabited islands here, and it was the first one officially inhabited by Ecuadorians, when Ecuador took possession of the Islands in 1832. Only three years later, the famous naturalist Charles Darwin visited Floreana Island, and after him many more visitors were part of a unique and bizarre human history: from marooned whalers to prisoners and colonists, and from a toothless dentist to a self-proclaimed empress.
The island has many visitors sites, and one of them is Punta Cormorant. This area is not named after the Galapagos flightless cormorants, as these endemic birds are not found in this location, but rather after a British Navy ship, the HMS Cormorant, that was launched in 1877 and assigned in 1886 to the Pacific Station (an area along the western coast of South America and extending to the Galápagos Islands and possibly beyond).
This site is well known for a fascinating beach of olivine sand. Here we disembarked at 6:30 a.m. (with the sight of a Bryde’s whale while disembarking!) and walked along a trail surrounded by endemic and native vegetation to reach a second beach of incredibly fine, white, coralline sand, a favorite nesting site for the green sea turtles. Our photographers had the chance to capture the best light of the day and of course a fascinating landscape as well as some blue-footed boobies courting not far from the trail. While visiting this site, our guests had the chance to learn about the Island ecosystem restoration program that is conducted now by the Galapagos National Park Services in collaboration with the Charles Darwin Research Station and with the help of the Lindblad National Geographic Fund.
After the walk and a good and well-deserved breakfast, our captain repositioned the ship near Champion Islet. This volcanic cone, now eroded, with rocky shores, is home to the remnant population of the rare Floreana mockingbird, which was driven to extinction by cats, rats, and other introduced predators on the main island.
We explored the islet by Zodiac in the search of these rare and unique birds (which inspired Darwin in the formulation of his theory of evolution through natural selection) and the rest of the morning was devoted to enjoying the water realms from our glass-bottom boat or by snorkeling. Plenty of playful sea lions gave our guests the time of their life!
Following lunch, we spent the afternoon exploring the famous Post Office Bay by Zodiac rides and kayaks and finally landed at the famous Post Office Bay. First mentioned in 1793 by British Captain James Colnett, the Posy Office Bay tradition consists of using a simple wooden barrel to deposit postcards or letters without stamps! Next visitors will go over the correspondence and eventually collect the ones they can hand-deliver back in their countries. So far, thousands of letters and postcards have reach destination in this way and we are proud to say that the oldest Post Office system established in the South Pacific still works nowadays!
Knowing the human history of the islands, the Post Office Bay tradition, the plans to control invasive species, and the plans to restore the ecosystem of Floreana, was just part of the experience our guests had today.
Tomorrow will be a different day and we will go on the search of the giant tortoises!
