On our afternoon excursion, once again, Team Zodiac prevails. A private tour with Jessica again. This time, we spent quite a bit of time in the zodiac, touring the waters right off the coast of Floreana. There were quite a few sea lions playing around the zodiac and sunning on the rocks that were scattered about the area. We sighted 4 little penguins perched on the edge of on of the rocky outcrops – standing perfectly still like they were posing. Then we watched one of them swim through the water – at warp speed it seemed – right past our zodiac. As we trolled around the rocks, we watched giant turtles and rays swim past. We searched for turtles resting in the mangroves, but weren’t lucky enough to spot any.
On the beach, we hopped out of the zodiac (wet landing) and proceeded up a switch back trail to the Baroness Look out point. Fabulous view from a wooden deck at the top of a rise. Legend has it that in the 1930’s, the island was inhabited by a German dentist, his mistress and family (the Wittmers), as well as a “self-proclaimed” Baroness and her 3 lovers. Shortly after the Baroness made her home there, she began to terrorize the other residents. The Wittmer’s would receive gifts from their family, delivered by ship, and the Baroness would intercept the ships and not let the gifts go the family. She claimed them for her own. There were rumors of poisonings and murders, and eventually the Baroness, her 3 lovers and the dentist ended up dead. Many have tried to find the true story behind the island’s inhabitants, but no hard facts have been confirmed. Floreana today is known as the “island of mystery” for this reason.
The look out platform we visited was allegedly the site where the Baroness would scan the ocean for incoming ships. It’s a beautiful view and you could imagine her surveying her entire domain from where we stood. After photos and story telling, it was back down to the beach for the Zodiac back to the ship.
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