Day 3 on Xpedition: Floreana Island - June 19, 2012

Trip Index

• Planning the trip and getting to Ecuador
• Quito, the Equatorial Line, dinner at Carmine
• Flying to Baltra, Day 1 on the Xpedition!
• Day 2 on Xpedition: Espanola Island
• Day 3 on Xpedition: Floreana Island
• Day 4 on Xpedition: Isabela Island
• Day 5 on Xpedition: Isabela and Fernandina Island
• Day 6 on Xpedition: South Plaza and Santa Cruz Island
• Day 7 on Xpedition: Santa Cruz
• Goodbye Galapagos and Ecuador, until we meet again
   

This morning's activities on Floreana Island consisted of a short walk, then you could choose to do snorkeling off the beach afterwards (bringing the snorkeling gear with you), or take the zodiac back to the ship, suit up, and get back in the zodiac to go on the "advanced" snorkel off of Champion Island, which we signed up for.


8am was the start time; Kaleb and I are not early risers!  This meant that we got up as late as possible and skipped the dining room breakfast buffet.  While waiting our turn to go downstairs to the stern, we noticed a coffee machine at the bar, plus a pot of coffee, a pitcher of juice, and croissants at the grill, so we managed to ingest a few calories before heading out.

I forgot to mention earlier that there were walking sticks available at the stern if you needed them.  They seemed to be all one length and the grip not the most ergonomic.  If your knees bother you and think you'll need a walking stick on rocky paths, I recommend buying adjustable poles with rubber tips (handy if you are also going to Machu Picchu) from a sporting goods store like REI or something like this online.  They're lightweight, ergonomic, fit to your height and reduce to a shorter length for packing into your check-in bag.

Xpedition walking sticks

When we reached Punta Coromant, it was a wet landing onto a brown coarse sand beach, so water shoes were best.  There were wasps flying around, and I had sprayed myself with some Buggspray just in case, in addition to wearing neutral colored clothes as suggested in last night's briefing.  Our naturalist for today was Fatima, who was very knowledgeable and easy-going.  The trail was relatively flat, though sometimes with a slope.  Much of the discussion was about the plants and the condition of the lagoon.  We saw a couple of flamingos in the distance (pink dots really); there used to be more, but the changes in the climate affected the ecosystem of the lagoon, causing the birds to go elsewhere until conditions improve.

our naturalist Fatima, picking olivine crystals in the sand

no rocky trail, but sometimes sloping

there's one pink dot

here's the other

We made our way to a beautiful white sand beach.  Good thing the government of Ecuador made the islands a national park, else it'd be ripe for hotel development.  Who wouldn't want to wake up to this view?

a bit cloudy, but the beach was picture perfect...imagine if it was a clear sky?

virgin sand, ghost crab burrow residue on the bottom

sally lightfoot crab

freezing a yellow warbler in time

lava heron

green sea turtle nest depressions

Fatima's group

There were lots of sally lightfoot crabs abound, as well as other birds.  We saw our first yellow warbler, and it became my mission to try to catch a picture of these elusive sunny beauties, which was difficult as they flitted around so quickly.

It was time to head back, and people who elected to do snorkeling from the beach stayed behind while the rest of us took the zodiac back to the ship for the advanced snorkel.  We got our wetsuits from the hangers and went to our cabin to change, then returned back to the stern barefoot, grabbed our snorkeling gear, and hopped into the zodiac.  The ride to Champion Island was supposedly 20 minutes, but it felt shorter than that.  Soto was with us, and he passed shower gel around, so we were able to de-fog our masks and see clearly. (but best to bring your own just in case)   If you can handle sliding off the zodiac into the ocean, don't need to touch the ground, deal with slightly choppy water and a bit of current, and climb back into the zodiac via a short ladder in the water, you can do this snorkel.  It was fantastic!  So many fish, more than an aquarium!  Sea lions were swimming with us.  One funny video below: Kaleb thought he'd film me getting surprised by a sea lion sneaking up alongside me, but he got surprised himself...so glad we had the underwater camera! (though it took a few times to learn how to use it properly...)

fish galore

starfish

Soto told us that the next snorkeling trips would be even better than this!  Wow!

We returned from the snorkel, took showers and went to the Italian lunch buffet as the ship set sail for Post Office Bay.  There was an additional pasta station where the chef would cook selections to order.  We met Anna and her husband (never did catch his name!), and enjoyed Malcolm and Helen's company again.  Anna was a vegan, and the Xpedition kitchen went out of their way to create special entrees that she could eat, since many items, like today's pasta, contained egg, which was not allowed in vegan cuisine.  The kitchen baked her a special garlic vegetable vegan pizza and french fries cooked in vegetable oil.  It was nice to know that the kitchen went the extra distance. We heard from Helen that they did the snorkel on the beach, and when they pulled out the buoyancy vest from the bag, it attracted all the wasps, because it was bright yellow!  She had to keep it wrapped up until she made it into the water before donning it.  Life vests are brightly colored by design, but maybe Celebrity could invest in some neutral colored snorkeling vests just for Xpedition.

Part Two of the BBC Galapagos film was being shown in the Discovery Lounge, but we decided to take a nap instead, getting up in time for our afternoon excursion, a leisurely zodiac ride and wet landing at Post Office Bay, with our group guided by Jorge.  We learned about the history of Floreana Island including the scandalous Baroness and her three lovers and how they all mysteriously disappeared or died.  There were numerous sea lion and iguana sightings, as well as a heron.

four zodiacs out and about

heron amongst the mangroves

Post Office Bay was where pirates of old would pick up and drop off mail.  Nowadays, people leave mail there to be hand-delivered by others visiting in the future.  We looked through a couple of bags of postcards; there weren't any that were within hand-deliver range.  Some people left cards to be picked up personally as they expected the recipient to visit the Galapagos one day.  Others had no address, which added extra effort to find ones that did have an address on it. :(  I guess you are allowed to leave a wooden sign behind if you knew to make one in advance, based on the recent dates etched on some of them.

Jorge explaining the history of Post Office Bay

sifting through bags of postcards

wooden graffiti

when will this arrive?

After the excursion, we returned back to the ship and relaxed on deck reading Kindle, enjoying the sunset.  Then lather, rinse, repeat. (referring to the excursion briefings, sign-ups and dinner rush)

hardly anyone was on deck at this time

Tonight, we sat again with Malcolm and Helen and also met France and Michel.  Eventually, dinner became a funny game of "Was it good...or okay?".  Lots of the dishes were just "okay".  We did manage to get a table closer to the front, so dinner went by faster.

can't really mess up shrimp cocktail

polenta with cheese

fresh avocado and tomato salad

shellfish bisque, not too bad

I didn't think salmon was indigenous to the waters, so ordered the fish of the day (pargo), very good

octopus entree, very tender and tasty

ice parfait; anise gave it an interesting, unexpected flavor

profiteroles were okay; the ice cream and sorbet were probably the better choice for dessert tonight

Exhausted from today's snorkeling, we turned in, but we heard that the naturalist's party was very fun, as they all performed on stage.

Tomorrow we head to Isabela Island, where we will get our first sighting of flightless coromants, giant tortoises, and land iguanas!

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