Day 4: Floreana

Post Office Bay

Darwin again cruised through the night so we awoke to breakfast with views of Floreana. Our first site was Post Office Bay where a post box stands to carry on a tradition from the 1800s. The waters surrounding the Galapagos were used for whaling and this beach on Floreana became a spot for leaving communications to be transported back to the main land. In keeping with the tradition, tourist are encouraged to leave a post card and hope another friendly tourist will ensure it makes it’s destination. Will and I left a postcard for his parents (which we learned was hand delivered in Pennsylvania only two weeks later). After sorting through hundreds of cards sitting in the box, Will and I found two that we can had deliver in Florida when we return for Christmas.

The rest of the morning was spent snorkeling at a rock formation called La Corona del Diablo (Devil’s Crown). The area was surrounded by reefs with large schools of fish, sea turtles, sea lions, and white tip sharks. We were also excited to see our first colony of blue footed boobies nesting on the rocks.

Flamingos in Cormorant on Floreana

In the afternoon, we went for a walk on the island in an area called Cormorant where we saw flamingos. Luckily, a group was resting directly adjacent to the path so we could get excellent views of the beautiful bird. We also visited a beautiful beach not suitable for swimming because it was lined with stingrays lurking in the surf (stingray city as Billy would call it). That evening, Darwin headed north to Santa Cruz where we again had dolphins gliding off the bow. This time, they were doing rolls and jumps creating a large splash. It seemed like they could hear us cheering which encouraged their tricks. We anchored off the main town, Puerto Ayora, for our final dinner onboard Darwin.