GALAPAGOS II: Floreana

We stayed on San Cristobal for about a week and waited for our departure to align with Fritz' departure back to the states. Fritz hopped aboard the water taxi as the crew of ZOE waved good bye from the deck. Fritz had been wonderful in getting ZOE and our crew back on course, him leaving felt like someone taking away our security blanket but we were now ready and excited to set the sails ourselves :) We had a nice crew dinner that evening and waved goodbye to San Cristobal ourselves in the dark, surrounded by the sparkling bobbing mast lights as we headed out on an overnight sail to Floreana Island.

The Galapagos is an archipelago of islands, of which 97% of the land is National Park and only 4 islands are habited. For good reasons, Ecuador and the Galapagos make it extremely difficult to visit these islands, needing permission and clearance to set foot on each island. World Arc was able to get us clearance to visit the 4 habited islands; San Cristobal, Floreana, Isabella and Santa Cruz. Although most people in the fleet just anchored off of Floreana for the night without even going ashore, we arrived in the morning ready to explore! Floreana turned out to be one of the most interesting islands I have ever been to.

The island is populated with 157 habitants, ALL descending from 6 families. The island has some mysterious and a bit of scandalous history including a baronessa who at one point tried to claim the island as her own when she was asked to leave, only to return years later with her husband and 2 other mail suitors. The island welcomed this famed woman back and she created a life with these three men, soon to be 2 after her fist husband died and she married the second man in line. After a few years and for unknown reasons, that 2^nd lover set out to sea, never to return and she soon wed the 3^rd suitor she had brought along. Not long after her and the 3^rd man in line wed, they both disapeared, never returning again. It is fabled that they are still alive (into their hundreds now) frolicking the island's uninhabited terrain. Whether this baronessa and her third lover are still watching over her beloved island or not, there is definitely something that gives this island a mysterious vibe, in a great way.

When we made it ashore, after a slightly terrifying leap to land from our dingy (the dingy dock on Floreana is more of a cement wall that you tie up to and pray that you can leap up to the step, covered in sea crabs and algae. My ascend was less than graceful, ha). The issue in traveling the Galapagos is that you not only have to be approved to set foot on soil of each land (and even that approval is for a minimal part of each island) but you also need to be accompanied by a “Naturalist” to escort you around the island. Granted there is good reason for this, ie: Iguana nesting areas that you might accidently walk over if you don't have a naturalist with you, oops. But, there is an entire social inequality side to this as well, which I'll get to in a bit.

Needless to say, our ragtag crew of SV Zoe did not have a naturalist lined up to escort us. This is where a speaking z spanish comes in handy ;) I popped my head into a semi official looking building and asked in my sweetest voice possible to the nicest looking woman, if there was any way one of the locals could tour us around Floreana and take us to Post Office Bay. Then I smiled, wide mouthed and large and gave that kind of, I am sorry for breaking your rules but PLEEEAASE look. She kind of looked at me like she pitied me and told me to wait for 5 minutes, she was going to call her husband. In 5 minutes her husband appeared and asked to talk to me. We kind of went off to the side of the building and he asked me a bit quieter than I am used to what we are wanting to see on Floreana. I told him that we had really wanted to see Post Office Bay and asked if it was possible for him to take us. He himmed and hawed a bit, looking over his shoulder, and then agreed to but not til about 3pm. GREAT! Beach time before touring, this is perfect. We designated a spot to meet Angel, our soon to be guide, and we set off on our merry way to explore the island!

Since our responsible Capitan had steered Zoe through most of the night to our anchor in Floreana, he was utterly exhausted and decided to head back to the boat for a little siesta before our explorations commenced. As he made his way back to his rocking berth, George, Kelsey and I made our way through town. There are really only 2 dirt roads through the town of Floreana. Sprinkled with simple houses, lined with laundry drying, chickens meandering the small yards, and a few little heads popping out of windows to share a quick smile. Although the island's life is minimal, they are not unfamiliar with tourists. The many small cruise and dive boats that loop around the Galapagos often stop at Floreana for an afternoon, bringing more than 400 tourists a month on this little island and town of 157 people.

After exploring “town” as much as we could and grabbing a cold beverage with some locals, we made a run for the beach. There are two main beaches in Floreana that people can get to, one is a black sand beach just a 5 minute walk from town (where it turns out iguanas are nesting, oops). The other is a bit further of a walk but more of an oasis than a beach and definitely worth the pleasant hike to get there!

The 3 of us enjoyed the PB&Js we had packed for lunch on this little cove of white sand, turquoise waters and sea turtles popping up to say hello. After lunch we went exploring a bit more to find the actual isolated beach that peopled had reveled about, (I forget the name of it at the moment :-/ For so much of the Galapagos being protected and off limits, I can't believe this beach was not. It was literally more like a little island oasis. In Kelsey attempting to get onto this island oasis of a beach, she was threatened and bared teeth at by one of the largest sea lions (I'm pretty sure known to man) who turns out was protecting his heirum and tons of baby seals that were rolling around on the white sand behind him. I stood watch, almost peeing my bathing suit laughing and enjoyed the scene from afar, admiring that big ball of blubber with lots of water and bobbing sea turtles between us.

After enjoying the turquoise water, white sand and adventure scene of Kelsey getting back off the island again, we booked it back to town to meet Angel and Ed for our 3pm date.

When we got to town, a bit late, Ed looked a bit confused and told me he thinks that Angel cannot take us. I immediately went to speak with Angel and pulling me aside, gently explained the situation. He guided my gaze with his pointer finger out to a boat lurking in the bay, explaining that this was the Police of the National Park boat, monitoring which boats were heading off the coast, explaining that it is highly illegal for locals that are not naturalists to give tours of the island. Although I still didn't quite understand, Angel asked us to wait for another hour and hopefully the lookout boat will be gone by then. In the meantime, he invited us over to his little cafe for a couple beers. We obliged ;)

What we took in sitting at Angel's little cafe was much more than cerveza. Angel gave us an insight into the Galapagos from the locals perspective and I have to say it wasn't the most uplifting information. Angel's discussion with us 4 gringos that afternoon was whole hearted, open and frustrating. That conversation was so valuable and not to be muddled into the midst of another long blog post, so I will keep the suspense going until the next post where I can do our conversation justice.

After a couple hours sitting over beers and deep conversation with Angel, the patrol boat had finally left and we were free to explore the coast of Floreana to Post Office Bay. We all scampered down the dirt road to that fateful dingy dock and hopped aboard Angel's fishing boat to embark on the best tour we had in the entire Galapagos! Angel took us along the western side of Floreana, exploring each crack and crevice. This island is in his blood and he can navigate it better than any naturalist from the mainland could ever dream. He brings us into little lagoons where the few penguins on this side of Floreana call home. He knows exactly where to find the Blue Footed Boobies and takes us zig zagging through the water of Floreana heading to Post Office Bay in a smooth and precise ride, looking behind his shoulder every few minutes just in case that look out boat has somehow come back.

When we arrive to Post Office Bay, there is a larger cruise ship anchored off shore, so in order to not disturb their time there, and since Angel was legally not allowed to bring us there, we asked if we wanted to trek up to a look out point just a few lagoons up the coast while we wait for the boat to leave. We happily agree yes. Angel lets us disembark onto a white sand beach and points to the path, letting us know he will wait in the boat for us. For a second my thoughts drift into those of the cautious traveller, all of our bags in the boat and if he left us here we would be royally in trouble. But Angel's, sincere smile and soft eyes makes me feel silly for even thinking that for one second. We trek up the short path to a beautiful wooden platform perched at the top of this hill, overlooking all of Floreana. It is breathtaking. All of us get a little giddy with how stunning a view it is, and how incredibly illegal it is for us to be there. A few photos are snapped and we are scampering back down the hill to our get-a-way boat in route for Post Office Bay.

This little angel of a man is sitting in his boat patiently waiting with a smile, looking very pleased that we enjoyed his special spot so much. At this point, daylight is no longer on our side and we book it for Post Office Bay, still needing to run the entire coastline back to our boat and these local fishing boats don't have lights. Angel once again, let's us disembark onto another white sand beach, extending to point to a path just a few meters off the beach. Although you can tell he is getting worried about daylight, he tells us to take our time, write a postcard and enjoy. The 4 of us are practically leaping down the path (well, at least Kelsey and I) to see this Post Office Bay we had heard so much about.

Post Office Bay was a very long time ago by sailors and pirates (Mom, it's ok) who used to frequent the islands in route across the Pacific. This little bay turned into a full fledge mode of communication between these nautical navigators and is still full functioning today! There is a little tin bin of sorts with plastic bags full of postcards. How it works is that now-a-days more travelers, less pirates, will come (with a naturalist) to Post Office Bay. Take a few photos, riffle through the postcards. If there is a postcard addressed to a destination they are heading, they will take the postcard and deliver it upon arrival, no postage necessary! We all chicken scratched a postcard out and deposited them into the tin “post office box” magically wondering if they will ever arrive home. Angel swore that many times travelers will write postcards home and they will be received before they even get home themselves. I was a bit suspicious that this mode of communication was THAT efficient, but he seemed pretty sure about it. Low and behold, we found out just a few days later that Kelsey's parents had received her postcard in San Diego! Like magic, our words are carried over the sea by other travelers just as they were when the pirates used Post Office Bay as their only form of communication. As of today, my postcard still has not arrived to Nevada City, but it will be very entertaining when it does ;)

Having stepped foot in Post Office Bay and sent off our loving words to family we hopped back into Angel's boat and concluded our tour of Floreana, racing back to the dock with a beautiful view of the sunset. I remember turning to Ed and Kelsey, who were glowing with the orange sky behind them, saying “ I can't believe this is our life right now”.

We waved good-bye to Angel and his smile, hopped aboard Zoe, and hunkered in for a cozy meal and good nights rest since we were only permitted to anchor off of Floreana for one night and would be setting sail for Isabella island bright and early the next morning. Floreana was a short visit, but there were no shortcomings in our new understanding of the Galapagos and the difference in islands that forms this archipelago.