Day 5 Tuesday: Floreana
Floreana is one of the four islands visited by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the HMS Beagle. This is how Wikipedia summarises Floreana:
Floreana (Charles or Santa María) Island – It was named after Juan José Flores, the first President of Ecuador, during whose administration the government of Ecuador took possession of the archipelago. It is also called Santa Maria, after one of the caravels of Columbus. It has an area of 173 square km (67 sq mi) and a maximum elevation of 640 m (2,100 ft). It is one of the islands with the most interesting human history, and one of the earliest to be inhabited. Flamingos and green sea turtles nest (December to May) on this island. The patapegada or Galápagos petrel, a sea bird which spends most of its life away from land, is found here. At Post Office Bay, since the 19th century whalers kept a wooden barrel that served as post office so that mail could be picked up and delivered to their destinations, mainly Europe and the United States, by ships on their way home. At the “Devil’s Crown”, and underwater volcanic cone and coral formations are found.
There is a more extensive entry here.
Visitors to the island leave postcards for subsequent travellers to pick up. The idea is to find cards that are addressed to people who live near your own home, so that you can deliver the cards personally.
Floreana was the setting for a true life story that seems like something Agatha Christie might have written. Read the Amazon blurb for My Evil Paradise Floreana:
German Doctor Frederick Ritter and his mistress Dore Strauch are an idealistic couple living on the remote island of Floreana in the Galapagos Archipelago. When an unconventional and seductive Austrian Baroness arrives, accompanied by her three lovers, their dreams of living a life in a paradise of solitude are shattered. Friedrich’s brave new world is violated by the baroness’s unsettling presence and he finds everyone else on the island struggling to resist the lure of her compelling sexual magnetism. While Dore tries to understand the changes taking place, the Baroness cruelly exploits and humiliates their lovers and all the other inhabitants. Then some new settlers appear: The Wittmer Family! Shortly after their onset the Baroness vanishs. What happened in Floreana remains one of the great murder mysteries of the 20th century. Is Margret Wittmer the murderer?
Wildlife seemed less populous than other islands, but there were still plenty of photo ops.
oddrops 