Floreana Island is also known as Santa Maria or Charles and sits in the mid-southern portion of the Galapagos. National Geographic Islander woke up anchored near Punta Cormorant in the northern part of Floreana. Our guests had a pre-breakfast wet landing on a beautiful beach with an abundance of olivine crystals, which sparkled with a green sheen in the sunlight.
We visited a flamingo lagoon, then following a short pebble trail, arrived on a powdery white sand beach where we found evidence of Pacific green turtles nesting. This shallow beach also contains a nursery of young diamond stingrays near the shoreline. It was quite a sight to see them go up and down with the surf.
After breakfast, we navigated to Champion Island and took a Zodiac ride in search of the elusive Charles mockingbird, which is no longer found on the main island. In the afternoon, we visited Post Office Bay and checked the correspondences to see if we could deliver any cards. Our final activity of the day was offered, and guests could kayak or paddleboard along the shore. A relaxing end to a great day.
