Floreana Island cruises

About the island

Floreana Island

Floreana, known as Charles Island to the early sailors and officially Santa María, is the island of Galápagos history: the first post office, the first resident and the strange stories of the settlers of the 1930s. It lies in the south of the archipelago and combines that history with flamingos, green beaches and some of the best snorkeling in the islands.

Floreana covers 173 square kilometers (67 square miles) and rises to 640 meters (2,100 feet). Fewer than 200 people live there, in the small village of Puerto Velasco Ibarra. The Irish sailor Patrick Watkins, who lived here from 1807 to 1809, was the first known resident of the Galápagos; the Wittmer family arrived in 1932, and their son Rolf, born in 1933, was one of the first children born in the islands. A few years later a self-proclaimed Austrian baroness and other settlers vanished in mysteries that have never been solved.

On our cruises Floreana is part of the southern routes, most often combined with Española and Santa Cruz. At Post Office Bay, whalers began in 1793 the tradition of leaving letters in a wooden barrel for passing ships to carry home; visitors still leave postcards and take others to deliver by hand. Cormorant Point is a wet landing on a beach of green olivine sand, with a lagoon where flamingos feed and, across a short trail, Flour Beach, a fine coral beach where green sea turtles nest and stingrays rest in the shallows. Offshore, Devil's Crown, the eroded rim of a submerged volcano, offers snorkeling among sea lions, sea turtles, reef sharks and schools of tropical fish. In the highlands, some itineraries visit Asilo de la Paz, with a freshwater spring, the caves used by pirates and early settlers, and giant tortoises.

Floreana is also the focus of one of the most ambitious restoration projects in the Galápagos. Its own mockingbird, one of the birds that set Darwin thinking, now survives only on the small islets of Champion and Gardner-by-Floreana. In February 2026 the national park released 158 young giant tortoises carrying the genes of the extinct Floreana tortoise, the first tortoises on the island in more than 150 years and the first of twelve lost species, the mockingbird among them, that the project plans to bring back.

Floreana suits travelers who enjoy history as much as nature and who like to snorkel. The visits are easy, though Devil's Crown has currents and is best for confident swimmers.

Fast facts

• Whalers started the Post Office Bay barrel in 1793, and visitors still carry postcards home by hand.
• In February 2026 giant tortoises returned to Floreana for the first time in more than 150 years.
• The Floreana mockingbird now survives only on the islets of Champion and Gardner-by-Floreana.