Galapagos: Floreana Island

Our day on Floreana started out well. I went out on deck early and was able to see a group of dolphins swimming close to shore, which was very cool, as I hadn't seen that before.



We went ashore in two different places, and as had been the case with the other islands we visited, the terrain was different than the islands before. Floreana was dry, but not as dry as North Seymour had been. There was more vegetation than either of the other islands, but there was also less wildlife in that vegetation. It may have just been the time of year. When we booked our cruise more than a year ago, we were actually given a list of what we might see depending on which month we chose to come. Everything in the island depends on the mating season, migration patterns, etc. That would work to our benefit in some places, and hurt us in others.

Typical Floreana terrain:





Darwin finch:



The first sea turtle we saw. She had just finished laying her eggs:







They're very slow creatures, and it takes them a lot of effort to get from the shore to their nests, which they dig out with their flippers. Here's this one's path from the shore:



Many of the animals in the islands have amazing camouflage. Juvenile crabs look very much like the rocks they spend most of their time on:



Sea lions are cute, so even though they're everywhere and one of the most abundant animals in the islands, it's hard to stop taking pictures of them.



We had been advised not to wear bright colored clothes on Florena. These paper wasps were the reason why. They're attracted to bright colors, but interestingly enough, I found them to be more attracted to my white camera lens than anything else.



Seashell on the beach:



Baby booby:



I'm not much for snorkeling, but Becca decided to take advantage a few times during our trip. This was the first:



More Floreana terrain:





We took a Zodiac ride in a different location on the island that afternoon. Here are some of the photos we saw on that part of the excursion.

Mother sea lion with a pup:



My best blue-footed booby shot of the trip:



We saw a white-tipped reef shark swimming around, but I wasn't able to get a picture of him. I was able to get a picture of this guy, however:



It's a Galapagos penguin. Our Zodiac was the only one to see a penguin that day, and we would only see one more the entire trip.

The animals we saw on Floreana were very cool, but for me, the most memorable thing about Floreana was what we saw that night, and it wasn't really on the island. We were told that the next place we were sailing to would have clearer skies, and that some of the wildlife might swim up to the ship. This turned out to be true. We saw sea lions, pelicans and other wildlife swimming around, which was very cool. The best part of the evening, however, was the clear skies. For the first and only time in my life, I could actually see the Milky Way. One of the naturalists came out on deck with a laser pointer and pointed out various constellations (they're much different in that part of the world) and the brightest "star" in the sky, which was actually Jupiter. I've always liked astronomy and have wanted to get into it more, so seeing that was very special.

Be sure to check out my other Galapagos and Ecuador entries if you haven't seen them already.