During the night we made the 5 1/2 hour sail from San Cristobal to Floreana Island. We loaded up the zodiacs (or pangas in Spanish) and took a tour of the bays in search of animals.

The Galapagos is a national park, and every single group/person that arrives to the archipelago must be accompanied by a naturalist assigned by the park. We were lucky to have Ibrehi. Working with one of our workshop leaders, Richard, they maneuvered the zodiac around to get the best possible light and background.

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, we also made our first “wet” landing. Take a moment to visualize 15 people loaded into two zodiacs with all of our camera gear decked out in big bulky orange life vests. Now imagine, the zodiac captains turn it around and start to back up to the beach engine first and try to get as close as they can without stranding the motor. Once you are positioned, it is “go” time. You, one-by-one take off your life vests, scootch one-by-one toward the motor, and swing your legs over the side. Now the decisive moment of either relief or tears. You hop out with your gear in about knee deep water while the waves are pushing you in one direction and then pulling you back in the other. I was lucky enough to have Peter carrying my gear, so all I had to worry about was not tripping, or falling out of the zodiac and being the first person in the Galapagos to drown in 1 foot of water.

This beach is named Post Office Bay, and it contained a very special treasure, an informal post office in the form of a wooden barrel, that has been in continuous use since 1793. We retraced the steps of Charles Darwin who visited post office bay for three days in 1835. He mentioned this now famous wooden barrel in his notes. Captain James Colnett took great care in creating South America’s first postal service. He didn’t just throw a barrel on the ground and slap “post office” on it in white paint. He mounted the barrel on a post, and cut a door in the front. When you open it, inside are Ziploc bags (pretty sure those didn’t exist in Captain James’ time) filled with post cards that people have written and addressed to friends. You sort through these piles, and if you find one that is close to where you live, you take it and hand deliver it. Then you get to leave one. Silly me, I actually tried to buy stamps at the airport for my post cards thinking a postal person would stop by at some point pick them up and drop them into the international mail system. It was fascinating to see all the places from around the world that people wanted to send messages to. This site is now a historical landmark.

We spent a playful 15 minutes on the beach with a young sea lion that was equally curious about us. Then loaded up into the zodiacs (getting in, is a lot harder than getting out….in my case it took a village to get me back in that thing).

That was just the morning. After two more meals, Peter paid a visit to the wetsuit guru (yes there is such a thing). He looks you up and down, sizes you up, and then picks the appropriate gear for you from suit to snorkel. I wouldn’t know though, I didn’t snorkel. But I can say that Peter looked very nice in his wetsuit ;0. Now if we can just have a guru version to help you pick out the perfect underwear and swimsuit.

Our last outing to the Floreana island was in search of nesting, and possibly mating, boobies. We saw the former, but not the later…and I honestly can’t say I’m disappointed. They are such expressive creatures and so interesting to watch. We did see flamingos, which was very exciting for me. I love photographing flamingos and had never seen them in the wild. If only they were a scooch, a hop, and about 50 feet closer.

Our last wildlife encounter for the day was unworldly. Before we set sail, the captain turned on the boat lights after dinner. Since dinner is at 7:00 it was dark (imagine, there are things to do after 6:00 PM) and we stood on the back of the boat watching Galapagos sharks chase flying fish. And they really do fly. One landed on the second deck of the boat at the feet of the captain, who was standing right where I was minutes before. A big scuffle ensued as they tried to get the fish off the boat. I’m not really sure what outcome the fish preferred.

One last thing about Floreana. If you’ve ever watched the movie Eden, it’s not like that. Our naturalist was very disappointed with us when we referenced it, and even more appalled at the movie. He said it was all about sex (not the wildlife kind) not about the nature. And he was very disappointed it was filmed in New Zealand. I guess that kind of makes practical sense. If you can’t be on the island between 6:00 PM and 6:00 AM, and you have to be accompanied by a naturalist the whole time, and you have to stay on a specific path that is approximately 1 foot wide, there is only so much you can film within those restrictions.