Floreana Island
A few clouds hung around the edges of the morning as I awoke the early birds for a visit to Post Office Bay. The sea was absolute calm, and the sun shone a while later as postcards were exchanged and Zodiacs cruised the off-shore islets passing marine turtles and even a couple of penguins (a surprise sighting!).
Champion Islet lived up to its name as an outstanding snorkel location. Fish galore! Surgeonfish, angelfish, salemas and blennies, temperature perfect around 73 degrees. The outstanding winners of the attention-getting crowd were the young sea lions who couldn’t get enough of our presence among them. Twirls, pirouettes, dare-devil dives and bubbles out the nose had us fascinated, and soon imitating them (with the exception of blowing air out our noses). The deep water was of the most absolute blue, and the clarity allowed us views of fur brushed sideways during tight turns, and skin rippling with speedy aquatic manoeuvres. If their intention was to dazzle and impress, they won hands down. As humans, we came in a distant second.
The afternoon was filled with more snorkeling around Devil’s Crown rock formation, while kayakers paddled serenely over shallow turquoise shallows and beach-goers had sandy encounters with castles and pups. Flamingos fed actively and smoothly in the lagoon while frigates cruised overhead waiting for marine turtle hatchlings to make a mistake (they didn’t today).
The tempting white beach over the isthmus of Pt. Cormorant was soon exposed for what it really was: a home for stingrays and turtle nests. But ghost crabs had left their sandy “spit balls” behind, giving texture to an otherwise flat surface.
A few clouds hung around the edges of the morning as I awoke the early birds for a visit to Post Office Bay. The sea was absolute calm, and the sun shone a while later as postcards were exchanged and Zodiacs cruised the off-shore islets passing marine turtles and even a couple of penguins (a surprise sighting!).
Champion Islet lived up to its name as an outstanding snorkel location. Fish galore! Surgeonfish, angelfish, salemas and blennies, temperature perfect around 73 degrees. The outstanding winners of the attention-getting crowd were the young sea lions who couldn’t get enough of our presence among them. Twirls, pirouettes, dare-devil dives and bubbles out the nose had us fascinated, and soon imitating them (with the exception of blowing air out our noses). The deep water was of the most absolute blue, and the clarity allowed us views of fur brushed sideways during tight turns, and skin rippling with speedy aquatic manoeuvres. If their intention was to dazzle and impress, they won hands down. As humans, we came in a distant second.
The afternoon was filled with more snorkeling around Devil’s Crown rock formation, while kayakers paddled serenely over shallow turquoise shallows and beach-goers had sandy encounters with castles and pups. Flamingos fed actively and smoothly in the lagoon while frigates cruised overhead waiting for marine turtle hatchlings to make a mistake (they didn’t today).
The tempting white beach over the isthmus of Pt. Cormorant was soon exposed for what it really was: a home for stingrays and turtle nests. But ghost crabs had left their sandy “spit balls” behind, giving texture to an otherwise flat surface.
