Floreana Island, Galápagos Islands

By Glen Bruels
This is part of a series called Galápagos Islands and Macchu Picchu 2022
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Greetings from Floreana Island, a middle-aged island at just over 2 million years of age.  This island was the first capital of the Galapagos.  The reason we were there was to hike to a small brackish lagoon where we found over 100 flamingos (more than 1/3 of all the flamingos in Ecuador) feeding.  Our guides were quite excited to see so many flamingos in one place.  After the “ankle breaker” trail on Espanola Island, the trails here were wide and well-graded.  After seeing all the flamingos, we continued down to the beach on the other side of the island.  Unlike the olivine sand of the first beach, this one was nearly pure white and was filled with green turtle tracks.  It turns out that this beach is a popular nesting spot and it is well protected.  While walking along the trails, we couldn’t help but notice that all the flowers in the Galapagos are either yellow or white — the only colors that the carpenter bees and other insects can recognize in order to pollinate. Nature always finds a way!

A surprisingly large group of flamingos feeding here. It turns out that this lagoon is rich in the all-important shrimp, worms, insects, and algae that they love.
You can tell the juvenile from his whitish color. He hasn’t eaten enough of the tiny shrimp that cause the flamingos’ coloring to turn pink.
It’s only when they fly that you can see the black on their wings.
The intrepid crew.
Meeting Deb and her group on the “luxurious” trail.
A Darwin Finch with a big beak — one of the variations of the finches across the islands.
Look at this amazing Galapagos Grasshopper — so colorful!
Lots of green turtle tracks leading to the nests. Can you tell which way she was going?

From there, a number of us went to Champion Island to do some “deep water” snorkeling from the tender.  There was a pretty strong current, but it carried us along in the direction we were heading, so it was quite nice.  We saw lots of fish and a few sharks, but the most amazing part was frolicking with the sea lions.  They were very playful, but I got a little too close to one of the babies, whose father took some umbrage at my intrusion.  After a few barks, and a tug by our guide, I was off.

King angelfish
Blue-chinned parrotfish
Buzzed by a sea lion
How about a kiss?

In the afternoon, we went to a different part of island at Post Office Bay.  This place is home to the post office barrel which was established about 1793, where pirates, buccaneers, whalers, and others could leave their mail to be picked up by outbound ships.  Today, you sort through all the post cards that have been left there, and if there is someone from your area, you are supposed to personally deliver it to them.  We didn’t find any from our area, but left a few for others to find.  Tomorrow, we head to one of the “young” islands — Isabela!

After slapping a number of horseflies off our various body parts, we got our chance to visit the “post office”
Yup, there are lots of postcards in there.
Sorting through the postcards to see if any are from your area. If there are, you are supposed to deliver the postcards to the senders in person — with no notice. We didn’t find any from the Northwest.
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”
This entry was posted in Chile, Ecuador, Galápagos Islands, National Park/Monument, South America, Travel
Glen Bruels

I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.

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