Floreana Island

Floreana Island
(Charles)

Native name: Santa María
Map of the Gapápagos Islands
Geography
Location	East Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	1°17′51″S 90°26′03″W
Archipelago	Galápagos Islands
Area	173 km2 (66.8 sq mi)
Highest elevation	640 m (2,100 ft)
Highest point	Cerro Pajas
Country
Ecuador
Province	Galápagos Province
Canton	San Cristóbal
Parish	Santa María
Largest city	Puerto Velasco Ibarra (pop. 100)
Demographics
Population	100
Density	0.6 /km2 (1.6 /sq mi)

Floreana Island is an island of the Galápagos Islands. It was named after Juan José Flores, the first president of Ecuador, during whose administration the government of Ecuador took possession of the archipelago, having previously been called Charles Island (after King Charles II of England). It is also called Santa Maria after one of the caravels of Columbus.

The island has an area of 173 km² and a maximum altitude of 640 metres.

History

At Post Office Bay, since the 18th century whalers kept a wooden barrel that served as post office so that mail could be picked up and delivered to their destination, mainly Europe and the United States by ships on their way home. Cards and letters are still placed in the barrel without any postage. Visitors sift through the letters and cards in order to deliver them by hand.

Due to its relatively flat surface, supply of fresh water as well as plants and animals, Floreana was a favorite stop for whalers and other visitors to the Galapagos. When still known as Charles Island in 1819, the island was set alight by a sailor from the Nantucket whaling ship the Essex. On the same voyage one year later the Essex was sunk by a massive bull sperm whale.^{[citation needed]}

In September 1835 the second voyage of HMS Beagle brought Charles Darwin to Charles Island. The ship's crew was greeted by the Acting Governor of Galápagos, Nicolas Lawson, and at the prison colony Darwin was told that tortoises differed in the shape of the shells from island to island, but this was not obvious on the islands he visited and he did not bother with collecting their shells. He industriously collected all the animals, plants, insects and reptiles, and speculated about finding "from future comparison to what district or 'centre of creation' the organized beings of this archipelago must be attached."

In 1929, Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch arrived in Guayaquil from Berlin to settle on Floreana, and sent messages back encouraging others. In 1932 Heinz and Margaret Wittmer arrived with their son Harry, and shortly afterwards their son Rolf was born there, the first citizen of the island to have been born in the Galápagos. Later in 1932, the self-described "Baroness" von Wagner Bosquet arrived with companions, but a series of strange disappearances and deaths left Margaret Wittmer as the sole survivor of the group who had settled there. She set up a hotel which is still managed by her descendants, and wrote an account of her experiences in her book Floreana: A Woman's Pilgrimage to the Galapagos.

The demands of these visitors and early settlers devastated much of the local wildlife and both the endemic Floreana Tortoise and the endemic Floreana Mockingbird became extinct on the island.^{[citation needed]}

Points of interest

• “Devil's Crown” is located off the northeast point of the island it is an underwater volcanic cone, coral formations are found here. A favorite dive and snokeling site Devil's Crown offers the opportunity to snorkel with schools of fish, sea turtles, sharks and sea lions.

• At Punta Cormorant, there is a green olivine beach to see sea lions and a short walk past a lagoon to see flamingos, rays, sea turtles and ghost and Grapsus grapsus Sally Light Foot crabs. Pink flamingos and green sea turtles nest from December to May on this island. The "joint footed" petrel is found here, a nocturnal sea bird which spends most of its life away from land.

• Post Office Bay provides visitors the opportunity to send post cards home without a stamp via other travelers and the over 200 year old post barrel.

• A miniature football (soccer) field, complete with goals, at the end of Post Office Bay, used by tour boat crews and their tourists.

Gallery

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  Floreana Island

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  Post Barrel

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  Punta Cormorant

Bibliography

• Treherne, John The Galapagos Affair (New York : Random House, 1983) ISBN 978-0394533278.
• Wittmer, Margaret Floreana: A Woman's Pilgrimage to the Galapagos (Moyer Bell, 1990) ISBN 978-1559210010.

External links

• Floreana