Action Packed Day

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The pre-breakfast outing was a zodiac ride with a wet landing to Floreana Island and a hike to Punta Cormorant. The beach where we arrive consisted of sand which contained olivine, a semi-precious stone, broken into very small granules.

We hiked past a brackish lagoon where we could see in the distance (thanks for the binoculars MOM) the Galapagos Flamingos (we only counted 18) and I believe this is the only island that we expect to see these beautiful birds. Once we arrived at Punta Cormorant beach we sighted burrows that had been dug by the sea turtles and also saw tracks on the beach as evidence of a female who had laid her eggs the previous night. Sally Lightfoot crabs were all along the rocks and I learned that the crabs’ growth depends on the process of molting, much like a snake, where the crab sheds its smaller hard shell and develops a new exoskeleton and actually feeds on the former shell they were.

Returning to the ship for breakfast and then quickly taking another Zodiac to go drift snorkeling. What an exciting morning, first thing off the panga I saw a spotted eagle ray, what a good omen. I saw a small white tipped shark, a chocolate chip sea star, thousands of surgeon fish, parrotfish, lots of frolicking sea lions, starfish, urchins, soft coral, and so many others, most of which I could not identify properly but can surely tell you I was a happy snorkeler.

In the afternoon I took another Zodiac adventure which took us first to turtle bay where we saw many medium sized sea turtles happy to bob their head above water to entice us further into the bay. We spied quite a few blue footed boobies (their population is declining here, now just under 7,000). Once again the Galapagos sea lions were the charmers and teased one another as well as the group playfully jumping, diving and dancing about the Zodiac.



Our next stop was Post Office Barrel. Here travelers leave letters or postcards, without a stamp in an old wine barrel and by tradition the visitors who come after see if anyone in the group lives in the vicinity of the addressee, takes the postcard, without postage and hand delivers the postcard/mail to the intended recipient. Our postmasters (naturalist guides) bellowed out the current cards’ cities and those on board who lived in the vicinity volunteer to deliver the missive. Two addresses were in Santa Fe and since I am traveling there in July so I now have those precious cards in my possession. After a short and invigorating swim in the small cove once again back to the ship via zodiac for a shower, dinner and bed. Tomorrow is an even earlier morning and off to the Charles Darwin research station and the giant tortoises.

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