Today we spent the entire day exploring Floreana Island. This island has been visited by pirates, whalers, sealers, and pioneer settlers since before the 1700s. We had a lovely pre-breakfast walk at Punta Cormorant and enjoyed seeing dancing blue footed boobies! The morning was cool and the trail sloped up and then gently sloping down to a beautiful white sand beach where sea turtles had nested the night before.
After breakfast we took a Zodiac cruise around a small offshore islet named Champion and searched for elusive and rare Floreana mockingbirds. Gorgeous white tropic birds with fire engine red bills ducked into their cliffside nests. We also saw sea lions and crabs along the coast. Many of our guests went snorkeling and were delighted to see sea lions swirling gracefully beside them and huge schools of colorful fish. There were also several white tipped reef sharks.
In the afternoon we visited the Post Office Barrel and explored the small islets by kayak and Zodiac where we saw rays, sea turtles, colorful marine iguanas, and the ever charming sea lions!
