Floreana, Galapagos, Ecuador

Floreana Island in the Galapagos was an unexpected little day adventure. I didn’t know much about it before going but when I heard that there were Pirate caves there, I was sold. My inner Goonie was ready to find One-eyed Willy’s treasure!

You can take tours to Floreana but considering that everything is fairly accessible yourself you can easily save your money by going on your own.

We took the ferry from Santa Cruz Island, the trip was about 2 hours. We arrived to Post Office Bay and went straight to the community center just up the road a couple of minutes and rented a snorkel mask & tube and they gave us some great tips about what we can see and how to get there. Floreana has a black sand beach which is really stunning. You can snorkel there but the water was pretty rough so we couldn’t see much at the time.

About a thirty minute walk from the black sand beach is a great spot for snorkeling. To get there you walk along this path that is quite beautifully lined with palms, lava rocks, colorful vegetation and view of the mountains and sea! The space for snorkeling is a bit small and can be a bit crowded depending on the amount of tourists on Floreana that day. Floreana itself only has a total of 127 residents.

While the tour would take you to the Tortoise Sanctuary we opted to skip that since we had visited the Sanctuaries on a couple of the other islands previously. We did however still need to visit the Pirate caves! We made our way back to the community center and asked them for advice on how to get there. If you ask early enough they will help you find a ride for a really cheap price and we got lucky because we found the last driver, Ulysses, around before everyone went home for the day.

He drove us up into the mountains and actually acted as our guide taking us to the Asilo de la Paz, which is a fresh water spring that is the primary water source for the locals, we also visited the Pirate caves and the giant rocks that formed a labyrinth to confuse any intruders.

The Pirates used to tie their clothes to sticks that were jammed between the rocks up high and sleep there, that way they would be safe from any flood waters that would inevitably flow down.

Floreana was a wonderfully easy day trip and we were excited to be able to see another island. I mean who wouldn’t want to check out some old Pirate caves, a black sand beach and see some amazing views of this treasure island?