Onboard the Xpedition

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Post Office - Floreana
Puerto Ayora - Santa Cruz
Our last full day in the Galapagos. The morning excursion had us visiting the island of Floreana at Post Office bay; this is where whalers used to leave messages for home in a barrel. Anyone passing by heading in that direction would pick up the letters and deliver them personally. This tradition continues today. The mailbox itself now is covered with bumper stickers, graffiti, and messages scratched on driftwood, it's quite an amazing sight. We shuffled through the postcards, and actually found one for Austin that had been left just that morning! Since we would be home in two days, it would probably get there earlier had it been sent via the regular mail. Several other passengers picked up postcards and left their own (ours STILL hasn't shown up yet). After Floreana, we headed back to Puerto Ayora. This time I went to visit the highlands to see the tortoises, the weather was much better today than it had been on Tuesday. It was interesting to see the change in ecology as we went higher up the mountain; the coast is very dry with scrub and cactus, but by the time we reached the tortoise reserve, everything was lush and green. We saw at least half a dozen tortoises on our walk, and a vermillion flycatcher, which is pretty rare. On the way back to the boat we stopped at a lava tube; there are many of these in the Galapagos. That night, we had a farewell dinner onboard, and an onboard dance show. Afterwards, they showed a slideshow of photos the naturalists had taken, as a surprise all the guests were presented with copies of the best photos on CD!

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