Galapagos, Day 3

Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Floreana Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Cormorant Point and Baroness Outlook, Floreana

Today we are at Floreana Island. Got up early since our walk and snorkeling activity starts at 8 AM. Had our breakfast at the buffet then headed to the zodiac with our snorkel gear for the wet landing on the island. Took a nice walk along a pond area where we saw Greater Flamingos. The plant life here is nice except Jim got some "sticky" plant on his socks and pants that was almost impossible to remove. We walked across the island to a beautiful

white sand beach . The sand was actually created from the poop of the Parrot fish over more years than we can imagine. May make you think twice before walking on a nice beach in the future. Walked back the way we came to the landing beach for our first snorkeling adventure. With our wet suits on it was very nice even though the water was about 70 degrees. Saw some very colorful fish, a sea turtle and nice underwater vegetation. After our lunch we crashed for 1.5 hours before our 3:30 PM zodiac ride and wet landing at Baroness Lookout. One of the highlights of the zodiac ride was watching a group of Sally Lightfoot crabs transporting (and fighting over) a baby octopus on the rocks.   Learned a little more about the history of this island before walking up to the lookout area for a view of the surrounding area. Did our usual post hike cleanup after we got back to the ship, attended the daily evening briefing then went to dinner. Some group took our usual table for 8 so we moved to a table for 10. Nancy and Joe from New Jersey joined us. They said we seemed to be such a lively group. After dinner we went to the Naturalist party in the lounge (they played musical instruments and also danced with the passengers). Later in the evening we did star gazing where one of the Officers and Naturalist pointed out various constellations using a laser light. Unlike the Outback, we could actually see the stars. The quarter moon was just coming up so it was still fairly dark. Could actually see the Milky Way (can't remember the last time we saw it).


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