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Destination Galapagos: Floreana
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Galapagos: Floreana Island

In 1832 the Galapagos were officially claimed by Ecuador and "Charles" Island was renamed Floreana, after the first president of Ecuador. It is best known for its colourful history of buccaneers, pirates, whalers, convicts, and colonists. In 1793 the Post Office barrel was established by British whalers to send letters to and from England.

This tradition has continued over the years, and even today visitors may drop off and pick up letters, without stamps, to be carried to far destinations. Leave your postcard in the barrel and see how long it takes to be delivered! Recommended sites are Punta Cormorant and Devils Crown.

Floreana Island is the 6th largest in the Galapagos and one of the first islands to be inhabited. In the 1930s this island was home to an infamous baroness and her entourage of lovers which makes for an interesting topic for discussion with your tour guide.

Flamingos are often seen here at the lagoon at Punta Cormorant. The dive sites of Devil's Crown and Champion Rock are host to some spectacular marine life.

Devi'ls Crown

Is a marine site located a short distance from the island. It is an old eroded volcanic cone and a popular roosting site for seabirds such as boobies, pelicans, and frigates. Red-billed tropicbirds nest in rocky crevices. The centre of the cone is an outstanding snorkelling spot full of sea lions and colourful fish. Stories tell that the first colonist of the Galapagos, an Irishman named Patrick Watkins, was stranded on Floreana in 1807 and lived by selling food supplies to visiting whaling ships.

By panga for snorkeling A shallow sunken crater makes for one of the best snorkeling sites in Galapagos. This almost completely submerged volcano offers snorkelers the chance to play in the water with sea lions. See a wide variety of colorful fish in the clear blue water. One must be a good swimmer as currents can be very strong.

This area looks dry and rocky from the surface, but the volcanic crater pinnacles that rise up from sandy rubble bottom are loaded with life. Schools of King Angelfish are common, as are large marbled rays that hide motionless under the rocky ledges. Very large balloonfish and large heiroglyphic hawkfish make way for the white-tip sharks making their escape from intrusive photographers. The rocky ridges are also home to scrawled filefish, schools of yellowtail grunts, turtles, tiger snake eels and of course, sea lions.

This is one dive where you might want to fight your way through the passing currents to nestle on the rubbled bottom at 65' and just hang out and wait to see what swims along. Groups of hammerheads and spotted eagle rays cruise back and forth across the currents and do come quite close to divers who are stationary for a while.

This site is also great for snorkelers who can be dropped in the center of the crater and swim their way to the outside.

Champion Rock

The rocky wall covered with bright green black coral drops down to over 200 feet. Sea lions join you from the minute you entered the water and don't leave you alone until you get back into the boat. Whitetipped reef sharks, marbled rays, pufferfish and schools of brown striped snappers are common. In the shallower water huge schools of juvenile fish block the sunlight and shift swiftly to avoid the bombarding sea lions.

Punta Cormorant

The sand of the landing beach contains a large proportion of fine olivine crystals, a glassy volcanic mineral, giving the beach its olive-green colour. Here you can see sea lions. See also one of the probably best flamingo lagoons before you finally come onto a white beach, whose sand is as fine as talcum powder. Formed by the erosion of coral skeletons, it is a nesting site for green sea turtles. A good chance to see rays, sea turtles and crabs. Around the lagoon it is also possible to see a variety of shore birds, pintails, stilts, and other wading birds, as well as numerous and unique species of plants.

We land on a beach with olive-colored sand due to volcanic crystals of magnesium and iron. The trail leads to a brackish lagoon where there are flamingos (the pinkest in the world) are surrounded by palo santo trees. Pass through a rich variety of PLANTLIFE to reach a soft coral sand beach where sea turtles lay their eggs in the sand dunes. Spotted eagle rays swim along the shallow water so watch where you step.

At Punta Cormorant the black sandy beach twinkles with green olivine crystals (also called peridot). These crystals are evidence of a violent volcanic eruption.

Access to the beach is a wet landing. A short walk from the beach, a large saltwater lagoon is home to long, skinny-legged Greater flamingos that wade there, sifting through the sand with their curved bills to find shrimp. They also come here to breed. Here you'll also see white cheeked Pintail Ducks, stilts and other shorebirds.

If you follow the short trail over the hill you'll come to a pristine white sandy beach and a gentle surf. The sand here is so fine that it feels like walking on feathers! This beach is a nesting ground for the Green Sea Turtles. Playing off in the surf you might also see Stingrays, Golden Cowrays, and White-tipped Reef Sharks. Black volcanic rock which contrasts the pure white sand and soft blue waters is decorated with the bright red sally lightfoot crab.

Post Office Bay
Not the most scenic of the visitor sites, but probably one of the most famous sites in Galapagos. Here is where a post barrel was placed and put into use in the late 18th century by English whaling vessels. You are invited to leave a post card and to pick up any mail from your home area. Take a short visit to the remains of a Norwegian commercial fish drying and canning operation and a lava tube that extends to the sea.

Black Beach
An unofficial visitor site only visited under special arrangement. Visit the Wittmer pension and small settlement of Puerto Velasco Ibarra. Its famous resident, Margaret Whitmer, arrived to Floreana in the 1930's and still lives here today with her daughter. Here you can have your post cards stamped with one of four seals, sample the homemade wine. Items for sale include Floreana t-shirts and signed copies of her book, Floreana.

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