Floreana Island
Very early this morning we disembarked at one of my favorite places: Post Office Bay. Even after nineteen years, I still feel excited and special when I take my guests to this historical and romantic spot. Pirates, whalers, buccaneers, and renegades as well as Norwegian, German and Ecuadorian early settlers, have been disembarking here to look for water, food and protection since the sixteen-hundreds. I can visualize beautiful, ancient galleys anchored out to sea and I dream I’m on one of them. Nowadays we come here to collect and leave mail, just like pirates and whalers did three hundred years ago. If you really stop and think about this consciously, you will have the same special feeling I have every time I come here.
Floreana Island has a beautiful and most interesting human history as well as natural. This was the very first Galápagos island ever inhabited by a human being! In the seventeenth century, an Irish drunkard was left behind by his captain as he was no longer desired on board the ship. Hopefully we will all behave on our ships, so this will never happen to us! Patrick Watkins was a real tough fellow. He lived alone on an uninhabited island long before Robinson Crusoe! He survived on his own and was usually drunk on rum. He grew vegetables which he traded to pirates for the treasured liquor. After a couple of years he stole a whale boat and headed to Guayaquil, Ecuador. After Watkins left, Floreana Island had no human settlers until 1928.
The naturalists shared these fascinating stories, and more, with us during our day on Floreana Island. We hiked, snorkeled, kayaked and swam today. What a fascinating spot in the Galápagos Archipelago; a jewel in the middle of the Southern Pacific Ocean. This is an island full of mystery, unique species and wonderful places to visit. Our guests thoroughly enjoyed all of the adventures we offered!
Very early this morning we disembarked at one of my favorite places: Post Office Bay. Even after nineteen years, I still feel excited and special when I take my guests to this historical and romantic spot. Pirates, whalers, buccaneers, and renegades as well as Norwegian, German and Ecuadorian early settlers, have been disembarking here to look for water, food and protection since the sixteen-hundreds. I can visualize beautiful, ancient galleys anchored out to sea and I dream I’m on one of them. Nowadays we come here to collect and leave mail, just like pirates and whalers did three hundred years ago. If you really stop and think about this consciously, you will have the same special feeling I have every time I come here.
Floreana Island has a beautiful and most interesting human history as well as natural. This was the very first Galápagos island ever inhabited by a human being! In the seventeenth century, an Irish drunkard was left behind by his captain as he was no longer desired on board the ship. Hopefully we will all behave on our ships, so this will never happen to us! Patrick Watkins was a real tough fellow. He lived alone on an uninhabited island long before Robinson Crusoe! He survived on his own and was usually drunk on rum. He grew vegetables which he traded to pirates for the treasured liquor. After a couple of years he stole a whale boat and headed to Guayaquil, Ecuador. After Watkins left, Floreana Island had no human settlers until 1928.
The naturalists shared these fascinating stories, and more, with us during our day on Floreana Island. We hiked, snorkeled, kayaked and swam today. What a fascinating spot in the Galápagos Archipelago; a jewel in the middle of the Southern Pacific Ocean. This is an island full of mystery, unique species and wonderful places to visit. Our guests thoroughly enjoyed all of the adventures we offered!
