All Earth Day 22nd April 2010

Up early for a quick orange juice / coffee before boarding a panga* heading off at 6.30 am on Floreana. Wet landing onto a green olivine crystalline beach - brownish with flashes of the green mineral crystals embedded in it. A Central American term, "Panga" was used historically for any small boat other than dugout canoes, (RIBs - rigid inflatable boats, as we would know them), are the work-horses of the ship and are capable of speeds in excess of 35 knots! We then walked inland, (not far), to a brackish mangrove lake,called Punta Cormorant, resplendent with flamingos, (Phoenicopterus ruber)!


There are only an estimated 50 or 60 breeding pairs birds left as the introduction of feral pigs into Galapagos had a devastating affect on their nests and eggs. Flamingos filter-feed on brine shrimp and blue-green algae. Their oddly shaped beaks are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they eat, and are uniquely used upside-down. The filtering of food items is assisted by hairy structures called lamellae which line the mandibles, and the large rough-surfaced tongue. The pink or reddish color of flamingos comes from carotenoid proteins in their diet of animal and plant plankton.

We then walked over a rise to a white fine-sandy beach, and saw female green-sea turtle tracks, from their egg laying exploits! Tidal area full of Sally Light Foot crabs and in the surf we saw outlines of rays (probably stingrays).

In the afternoon Margaret stayed aboard,reading on the top deck whilst I went for a trip on the glass-bottomed boat ... (to save more sun on the back of my legs!). Then at around 5pm we made a wet landing at Post Office Bay ... the proverbial post box was there ... plus little pieces of rock and wood left with messages ... In the barrel that acts as the Post Box, are letters and postcards left there in the hope someone looking through them lives close enough to the addressee to hand deliver the missive. The Post Office Box was used in the old days by whalers and others to stay in touch with home. Leaving the letters behind in the wooden barrel, other sailors returning home took it with them. Nowadays tourists keep up the tradition. A few got doled out by our crew, though Margaret & I drew a blank when it came to addresses in the North! We left a card for Alison & Peter ... so who knows? On the trip back by panga we saw turtles swimming and dolphins leaping - a lovely end to the day.