Galápagos 2013: Vacation, Evolved - Punta Cormorant, Devil's Crown, Post Office Bay
Although I didn't know it when I woke up, Wednesday, December 18, was one of the best days I had in all of 2013. During the night the M/Y Letty had arrived at Floreana Island. Floreana is due west of Española Island where we had spent the previous day.
After breakfast we were preparing for our first excursion of the day and wondering if the clouds would burn off or turn into rain when we saw dolphins off in the distance. We quickly jumped aboard the pangas and went out to visit them. The dolphins were inclined to visit and raced alongside us. I haven't the faintest idea how long we hung out with the dolphins; it felt like a long time (in the enjoyable sense) but may have been as little as twenty minutes. Fortunately, I had learned from my mistakenly packing the camera in my bag and thereby missing out on some photos at Cerro Brujo and was able to get a lot of pictures of the dolphins as they raced alongside the pangas.
Once the dolphins left us we headed toward the island. Unlike most of the islands we visited, Floreana actually has a small human population of about 100 people, but we weren't anywhere near that village. Instead we waded ashore at Punta Cormorant on the northwestern edge of the island. We left the lovely sand beach for a trail heading overland. First this took us past a large brackish lake with extensive mud flats at the edges. This is the home of a small population of American Flamingos. According to the naturalists, the flamingos in the Galápagos are the same species that you would find in Florida. Nobody seems to be sure how that happened, but that's what the DNA indicates. In any event, we got to see lots of dancing and honking.
We continued along the trail a few hundred meters to another beach that is well known as a sea turtle nesting ground. We did not see any turtles, but we did see some nests. We were advised not to swim because sting rays lurk in close to shore, and although they aren't hostile, they don't like being stepped on any more than we do. We then doubled back to our landing point; from there we took another, much shorter, trail to see the flamingos from closer range. Here we also saw a juvenile lava heron, which have the same head as herons in the U.S. but much shorter legs. To cap off the morning, when we were taking the pangas back to the Letty a Galápagos penguin swam up to the boat to say hello.
Next we suited up to go snorkeling at a rock formation called Devil's Crown. Several rich, food-bearing ocean currents meet near this rock, which means that many fish and birds congregate in the area, not to mention the dolphins. The current was very strong; if I turned and swam against the current with all my strength and swim fins I could just barely make progress against it. Basically, the panga dropped us off at one edge of the rock and then picked us up at the other end; no actual swimming was necessary beyond that needed to keep from hitting things. Due to the current the visibility wasn't as great as on previous days, but we saw a sea turtle, which is always exciting. We also saw sharks, a sting ray, sea stars and a wide assortment of fish. After we made one pass the panga hauled us back to the beginning for a second pass. The water was very cold, and even with a 3mm wet suit and my, ahem, natural insulation I was exhausted and had to signal for pickup before the second pass was done.
One nap later, we had a wet landing at Post Office Bay. For most of the early history of Floreana, whalers were the main humans to visit the Galápagos. A whaling cruise could last two or more years. To facilitate communication, a barrel was placed at Post Office Bay. Whalers could leave their mail there, and then other ships who were headed home would go through the mail and deliver any that was addressed to their destination. This is kind of neat, although ultimately it fell apart because the U.S. Navy used intel from purloined letters to capture a lot of British shipping in the War of 1812.
In any event, tourists such as us were encouraged to address a post card to a friend and leave it to be picked up in the future. I sent Tulip one. We were also encouraged to go through the mail to see if there was any located near our homes that we could hand deliver upon our return. I actually found two postcards addressed to Lakewood, Ohio, so I took them. More on this in a future post.
After we perused the mail, we hung out on a lovely beach. A brown pelican walked right up to us without fear and attempted to eat a sandal that had been left on the beach by a five-year-old in our party. Fortunately for both the pelican and the sandal, the naturalists were able to dissuade him from eating the child's shoe, but it was touch and go there for a bit.
For our final outing of the night, we took a panga ride along the shoreline during the golden hour. We saw a ridiculous variety of wildlife during this trip. This included many blue-footed boobies, the inevitable sea lions and crabs, another lava heron, several Great Blue Herons on nests, sharks, another sea turtle, and a few more marine iguanas. Most excitingly to me, we saw a baby Galápagos penguin sunning on the rocks.
Our guides were very excited to see a frigatebird cooling off in the branches of a tree. Apparently, this was an exceptionally rare event. The naturalists had their cameras out and were acting like tourists themselves.
We also saw a wooden overlook dating from the 1930s that was built by some crazed Germans who settled on the island. This is a sordid tale of lust, violence and greed, and is well worth reading.
My sister's summary of the day is here. My photos are here.
After breakfast we were preparing for our first excursion of the day and wondering if the clouds would burn off or turn into rain when we saw dolphins off in the distance. We quickly jumped aboard the pangas and went out to visit them. The dolphins were inclined to visit and raced alongside us. I haven't the faintest idea how long we hung out with the dolphins; it felt like a long time (in the enjoyable sense) but may have been as little as twenty minutes. Fortunately, I had learned from my mistakenly packing the camera in my bag and thereby missing out on some photos at Cerro Brujo and was able to get a lot of pictures of the dolphins as they raced alongside the pangas.
Once the dolphins left us we headed toward the island. Unlike most of the islands we visited, Floreana actually has a small human population of about 100 people, but we weren't anywhere near that village. Instead we waded ashore at Punta Cormorant on the northwestern edge of the island. We left the lovely sand beach for a trail heading overland. First this took us past a large brackish lake with extensive mud flats at the edges. This is the home of a small population of American Flamingos. According to the naturalists, the flamingos in the Galápagos are the same species that you would find in Florida. Nobody seems to be sure how that happened, but that's what the DNA indicates. In any event, we got to see lots of dancing and honking.
We continued along the trail a few hundred meters to another beach that is well known as a sea turtle nesting ground. We did not see any turtles, but we did see some nests. We were advised not to swim because sting rays lurk in close to shore, and although they aren't hostile, they don't like being stepped on any more than we do. We then doubled back to our landing point; from there we took another, much shorter, trail to see the flamingos from closer range. Here we also saw a juvenile lava heron, which have the same head as herons in the U.S. but much shorter legs. To cap off the morning, when we were taking the pangas back to the Letty a Galápagos penguin swam up to the boat to say hello.
Next we suited up to go snorkeling at a rock formation called Devil's Crown. Several rich, food-bearing ocean currents meet near this rock, which means that many fish and birds congregate in the area, not to mention the dolphins. The current was very strong; if I turned and swam against the current with all my strength and swim fins I could just barely make progress against it. Basically, the panga dropped us off at one edge of the rock and then picked us up at the other end; no actual swimming was necessary beyond that needed to keep from hitting things. Due to the current the visibility wasn't as great as on previous days, but we saw a sea turtle, which is always exciting. We also saw sharks, a sting ray, sea stars and a wide assortment of fish. After we made one pass the panga hauled us back to the beginning for a second pass. The water was very cold, and even with a 3mm wet suit and my, ahem, natural insulation I was exhausted and had to signal for pickup before the second pass was done.
One nap later, we had a wet landing at Post Office Bay. For most of the early history of Floreana, whalers were the main humans to visit the Galápagos. A whaling cruise could last two or more years. To facilitate communication, a barrel was placed at Post Office Bay. Whalers could leave their mail there, and then other ships who were headed home would go through the mail and deliver any that was addressed to their destination. This is kind of neat, although ultimately it fell apart because the U.S. Navy used intel from purloined letters to capture a lot of British shipping in the War of 1812.
In any event, tourists such as us were encouraged to address a post card to a friend and leave it to be picked up in the future. I sent Tulip one. We were also encouraged to go through the mail to see if there was any located near our homes that we could hand deliver upon our return. I actually found two postcards addressed to Lakewood, Ohio, so I took them. More on this in a future post.
After we perused the mail, we hung out on a lovely beach. A brown pelican walked right up to us without fear and attempted to eat a sandal that had been left on the beach by a five-year-old in our party. Fortunately for both the pelican and the sandal, the naturalists were able to dissuade him from eating the child's shoe, but it was touch and go there for a bit.
For our final outing of the night, we took a panga ride along the shoreline during the golden hour. We saw a ridiculous variety of wildlife during this trip. This included many blue-footed boobies, the inevitable sea lions and crabs, another lava heron, several Great Blue Herons on nests, sharks, another sea turtle, and a few more marine iguanas. Most excitingly to me, we saw a baby Galápagos penguin sunning on the rocks.
Our guides were very excited to see a frigatebird cooling off in the branches of a tree. Apparently, this was an exceptionally rare event. The naturalists had their cameras out and were acting like tourists themselves.
We also saw a wooden overlook dating from the 1930s that was built by some crazed Germans who settled on the island. This is a sordid tale of lust, violence and greed, and is well worth reading.
My sister's summary of the day is here. My photos are here.