Floreana
Located approximately 4 to 5 hours west of
Espaņola and equal distance south of
Santa Cruz, this island has long been a favorite site of visitors including pirates, whalers and
early settlers.
One of the oldest islands Floreana illustrates the aging
process of a volcanic island. Unlike the younger western
islands, Floreana's volcano has been long extinct and is in the
advanced stages of erosion. The erosion process gave the island
the nutrients and soils need to sustain plant life. The
combination of this rich soil and a good water supply have given
the highlands of Floreana a diversified landscaping of native and
introduced flora.
Floreana is best known for its colorful history of
buccaneers,
whalers,
convicts, and colonists. In 1793 British whalers established the
Post Office
Barrel to send letters to and from England. This tradition has continued over the years, and even
today visitors may drop off and pick up letters, without stamps, to be carried to far
destinations.
Punta Cormorant offers two highly contrasting beaches. The landing beach is
of volcanic origin and is composed of olivine crystals, giving it a greenish tinge. At the
end of the short trail is a carbonate beach of extremely fine white sand. Formed by the
erosion of coral skeletons, it is a nesting site for
green sea
turtles.
In the 1930's Floreana was the setting for intrigue and mystery. A German
dentist and his mistress, a young family (the Wittmer family who still live on the island) and a
self-styled Baroness with three men came to settle in the island. Shortly after the
baroness and her lovers arrived chaos began. They terrorized the other inhabitants while
planning to build a luxury hotel.
Eventually the Baroness, her two lovers and the dentist all turned up missing or
dead. There has been much investigation searching for what really happened on
Floreana, but there have never been any hard answers. John Treherne wrote of these people
in "The
Galapagos Affair".
Visits on Floreana
This is one of the few visitor sites, that is visited for its human history.
Whaling captain James Colnett established the wooden post barrel in the early
1793. At the time
whaling was a big industry, ships were typically gone for 2 years
at a time. The Galapagos Islands were a frequent stop for these ships. Outbound
ships would drop off letters after rounding the cape and the ships returning home would
mail them.
Over the years thousands of ships have stopped to send and receive mail at Post Office
Bay. Many have posted a sign of driftwood or other materials memorializing their
visit. This is the only area in the Galapagos were graffiti is still
acceptable.
Arriving at Post Office Bay you will land on a brown sand beach, passing the sea lions
lying in the sun. At the post barrel the guide will pull a hand full of letters for
the group. Continuing the tradition, the letters are brought home with
the traveler and then mailed to the addressee. Visitors also have the opportunity to send letters of
their own.
There is also the remains of a Norwegian Fishing Village a commercial
fishing operation established in 1926 and abandoned a couple of years later.
The group of Norwegians arrived with dreams of riches started a fishing and
can operation on $900 each. The tough Galapagos life and a few misfortunes had
them abandon their dreams.
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