Day 7 Galapagos (morning): Floreana Island

Diane: Floreana’s history is the stuff of legends. Or is it the fluff of legends? A married couple, the Ritters, settled here in 1929 with the goal of exploring the healing powers of the mind. They had all their teeth removed before arriving so that they would not have to deal with tooth decay. A couple of years later, a Baroness moved onto the island with her 3 lovers. She came wearing horse riding apparel and carrying a revolver. There was no peace on the island after that, and eventually some of their bodies washed ashore and some of the inhabitants mysteriously disappeared. Dr. Ritter, a vegetarian, somehow died from poisoned chicken.

We heard a significantly more detailed version of the story from our guide, Julian, as we were waiting to land. His version included the fact that the Baroness liked to swim in the nude. He felt that this probably contributed to the strife that ran rampant on the island. My question is - if you were living on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with only 5 other people, would you bother to wear one of those uncomfortable-looking bathing suits of the era? There were diaries kept and books written. Even with a descendent of these original colonizers still living in the Galapagos, it’s anybody’s guess what the true story was.

The recounting of this tale was so long that I was able to capture lots and lots of video footage of two sea lion pups playing with a rope that Tatiana dangled from the panga.

From the water, the thick-trunked cacti of Floreana looked more like trees than cactus. Their growth reminded me of the metamorphosis of a butterfly. They start out looking like regular cactus, with several trunks. Then the trunks merge together. Once they become one trunk, they darken and shed their spikes, leaving a relatively smooth tree-like trunk.

After a walk up to the Baroness Hillock, we headed off by panga to the Post-Office-barrel beach. Here, tradition meets legend. In 1793, a British whaling captain set up a post office barrel by the bay. Whaling ships from around the world left their letters in the barrel and picked up those they thought they could deliver during their journey. Visitors now use the updated barrel for the same purpose. Take a letter with you, if you think you can personally deliver it within a reasonable timeframe - no stamp needed. My Mom found a letter addressed to Wayland, Massachusetts, which Tom or I might have wanted to deliver had we not been living in Ecuador.

I decided to skip the Post Office barrel in order to have more snorkeling time. Calliope decided to join me. Unfortunately, she hadn’t brought her snorkeling gear and, little by little, she took mine. First the shortie. With just one layer of wetsuit, I explored all the submerged rocks along the shore. Lots of colorful fish, some turtles, penguins zipping around - glorious. When I got too cold, I swam to shore to collect my shortie, since Calliope wasn’t even swimming. Much to my chagrin, Calliope took one of my fins. Then the other fin. And eventually the mask and snorkel. I guess part of being a parent is a willingness to give your kids the shirt off your back (or the wetsuit as the case may be). I wasn’t all that willing. Does that make me a bad parent? :-)

After lunch, TM, Calliope, and I went straight for our second salsa lesson. Several fun-loving cruise mates joined in, so first we had a review session with them and then a more varied session just for us.