This morning those aboard the M/Y Eric will navigate to Floreana Island where we have a wet landing on a long green, olivine beach called Punta Cormorant. There are often sea lions here and the swimming is excellent. From the shore, we walk a short distance to the brackish lagoons where we can sometimes observe as many as a dozen beautiful pink flamingos as well as other wading birds such as black-necked stilts, oystercatchers, white-cheeked pintails, ruddy turnstones, willets and whimbrels. Occasionally the flamingos will be so close that we can hear them sifting water through their bills as they ingest the small shrimp and crustaceans that give them their lovely color. From the lagoons, we hike across the isthmus to an incredibly white sand beach with the consistency of fine flour backdropped by such turquoise waters that one would imagine they were in the Caribbean. Here marine turtles lay their eggs in the powdery sand by the shore vegetation and we can slowly wade into the water to see spotted eagle rays or golden cownose rays, and with luck small reef sharks. Returning to Punta Cormorant, those who enjoy snorkeling will take the panga to the Devil's Crown, a half-submerged volcanic cone, where we can enjoy some of the best snorkeling in the archipelago. We can see huge schools of yellow-tailed surgeonfish and other tropical species as well as concentric pufferfish, sea lions and occasional marine turtles. In the afternoon we cruise around the island to Black Beach where we may have the chance to visit with Mrs. Wittmer, one of the original inhabitants of this island around whom much ntrigue was focused earlier in the century.