The Grand Majestic -Floreana- Galapagos –23 April 2024.

At about midnight the engines started, we upped anchor and headed for Floreana, an island southwest of San Cristobal. The engines throbbed and there was a bit of a swell which made sleeping quite difficult.

I got up and wound up the blinds about 5.30-6.00am as I found it difficult to sleep and I could see us coming down Floreana to our anchor point off Post Office Bay. I had a coffee on the rear deck whilst they anchored etc and breakfast was served at 7.00am. This was cereals, fruits and omelettes of your choice. After breakfast we went ashore and Louis our guide explained about the island and that it was one of the first islands to be visited when man first came. It was frequented by whalers and pirates who came ashore for water and turtles to eat. The first settlers came in 1832 and at one point there was  prison here. We moved on to what is called the Post Office behind the beach which is essentially an old barrel where people put in post and post cards. There is no postal service as such but if you came across mail you could deliver in your own country  then tradition is that you try and deliver it. We therefore hunted through the mail and a number of our party took the mail that they could deliver. I put in a postcard for my kids and who knows whether it will be delivered. I could not take any mail as I am not going home for a while.

We got back into the dinghy and then we went to another area nearby where we went looking for nature and Kayaking. I had seen Storm Petrels again near Grand Majestic which are small and black with a white tummy and they literally use their wings to keep them up and it is like they dance on the water with their legs picking plankton and other bits from the water with their beaks. As we moved round slowly we saw many sea lions swimming or lying on the rocks, several turtles which come to the surface every now and then to take a breath. There were frigate birds, some with red chests (males trying to attract females) and many blue boobies – see the picture.

These boobies are like Stuka bombers when they dive. They close their wings at the last minute and this makes them like an arrow when they hit the water and they go some way under the water when they fish. They are such lovely birds with their blue feet, although they have brown plumage with a white tummy and head. Juveniles are brown all over and receive their colours after one year. Males are slightly larger and have an elaborate, entertaining mating dance. The males lifts its feet one by one in a comic type way (like a clown) and then stops, raises his beak skywards and announces its manhood by a loud whistle and then points its tail and flaps its wings. This is accompanied by a love offering of sticks or twigs. The female joins in with the same feet movements but responds with a guttural honk. Breeding can take place at any time and up to 3 eggs are laid in a guano ring. If food supply is not abundant the eldest chick pushes out the other two in a form of selection. The young take 2-6 years to mature and will then return to their birthplace to mate.

I got into a Kayack with a 11-year-old boy who was on holiday with his grandmother who was very enthusiastic and loved turtles and we saw many coming up to take air and then dive again. We also saw marine iguanas in the water swimming for the first time which was great. They sort of swim a bit like a snake slithers in the water. They are the only sea faring lizard in the world.  They are mostly black and grey, but we saw some with pink and green tinges which is as a result of their diet. Their elongated tail helps them swim and they have webbed feet. They live on land (but when they first arrived many years ago they could not swim) and have adapted to swimming and eating algae in the water and can dive to about 10 metres and can stay under for about 10 minutes. After their swim they need to warm up again on the rocks or cuddle up with each other to get warmth and they snort or sneeze to get rid of the salt from their diet. They are polygamous and the female may accept a number of partners and they lay eggs in the sand or nest which take 3 months to incubate. Your iguanas have many predators but if they survive they can live up to 40 years. We also saw more sea lions and lots of birdlife.

We then returned to the boat for a coffee and a snack and then we got kitted out with our snorkelling equipment which we will have for our whole trip – wetsuit (not strictly necessary due to the temperature of the water), mask and snorkel and fins (although I used my own).

We returned toward the beach and snorkelled off the dinghies. The aim being that this was a warmup snorkel as we were going to a better snorkel this afternoon. We saw lots of parrot fish, brown fish, shoals of surgeon fish which were sliver with yellow tails, black and orange fish and sea lions. The water was a bit cloudy, but it was still very good.

We returned to the boat for a drink and to relax before we had a good lunch. Grand Majestic then moved over lunch to the North of the Island to what is called Cormorant Point and a rock off it called The Devils Crown – it was a bit like Kicker Rock but smaller and lower. This is where we are going to snorkel and we were promised it would be good.

We got out wetsuits on again and headed off by dinghy to the far side of Devils Crown where the instructor told us to stay with him and that there would be a current. He told us to get into the water. From the first moment I was blown away- my first look down was a surprise as there were so many fish at different layers going down some way of all different sizes and colours and then I felt myself moving toward the rock with the current and we began to see shoals of fish – some silver with yellow tails which apparently are surgeon fish which were nibling at the algae on the rocks below. There was then a huge shoal of silver fish with brown stripes and when I say huge they were all around me 360 degrees and for some way and I could hardly see the bottom. They swayed in the current like a dancer in a slow waltz one way and then the other.

We went toward a large rock which stuck out and there were sea lions in the water around the bottom. It appeared to me a mother and her infant sea lion swimming around and around us as if they did not mind our presence. The rock had a cave and I could see through to the other side where there was a shoal of yellow fish hiding in its shadow. We then moved over and a green turtle appeared swimming slowly and gracefully. This sight just continued with large parrot type fish- some like massive goldfish colour and some blue and pink and others grey, green and blue. This was the most fish and most diverse fish life that I have ever seen in my life in one place. It was a very special experience and everyone was blown away. However, I did not see any sharks, but it was quite shallow.

We went back to the boat and had a fruit juice and a snack and then we were given 30 minutes until our next trip which was to go ashore at Cormorant Point. We went by dinghy and on the way we saw frigate birds, pelicans, blue footed boobies and of course the Sally Lightfoot crabs. The beach was called a green beach although it looked brown. However, Louis bent down and picked up from the sand several green grains which are from the elements and which gives it its green name.

We walked inland to a blackish lake which was like a crater, but it had quite a few flamingoes on it. Apparently there are only about 750 of these in the Galapagos and on 3 or 4 islands and all in these brackish ponds which have a slight pink tinge from the microscopic shrimps that are in the mud.

We carried on walking and saw hermit crabs with large shells scurrying in the sand and the bushes. We walked over to the other side of the island to a sandy beach which had some dunes at the back and dips and holes in the sand. Louis explained that this was a major beach where turtles came to lay their eggs. There was a frigate bird ahead flying up and down and Louis said that he was looking for newly hatched turtles to eat.

We returned to the beach and back to the boat where we had hot chocolate with a spot of brandy in it which was delicious and another snack. We then had a break until supper which was delicious.

Louis said he had one more surprise for us and he took us out on to the aft deck and there was about 30 Galapagos sharks swimming off the back of the boat, coming in and out of the lights of the boat. One of the guests wanted to go in (they must be mad) but Louis said no. Hardly surprising. This was quite a sight and made up for the fact that we did not see them snorkelling.

It had been a very busy but a fantastic day. After supper Grand Majestic was moving on and as I write this the boat is swaying slightly.  

Opportunity for any Readers/Sailors.

In late May 2024 we shall be in the Marquesas in French Polynesia, and we will then move through to the Tuamotu’s before getting to Tahiti about the end of July 2024. There may be some space on Stormbird during this period should any sailor/reader be interested in joining for this period or part of it in what must be one of the most distant and beautiful places in the world.

In addition, in year two I will be going up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and probably across the Indian Ocean to Cape Town and I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we head off to the Galapagos and beyond.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk