Floriana Island is a small place with approximately a hundred and fifty inhabitants, it is a common stopping point on the way to Isla Isabela. The island is famous for its iguanas, you find them everywhere. As your eyes acclimatise to picking them out from the surroundings, you see more and more of them, in a peculiar sort of optical illusion. Sharing the rocks with them, bright orange crabs, scuttling across the stones and heading back and forth into the sea.

On top of the Iguanas, Floreana has its share of sea lions. However, the lower population means these unfortunate creatures are forced to recline on the beach rather than on benches.

Playa Negra

The black sand beach, an off-cited reason to go to Floreana is less dramatic than it sounds, closer to a dirty brown than a pure black, it is a protected space and full of wildlife, its a perfect spot to swim with sea lions, with iguanas looking on. The snorkelling is limited, as the tide throws the sand up and reduces visibility.

Community Lunch

An all wood restaurant, slightly off the beaten track was our lunchtime spot on Isla Floreana. On our walk there, our surprisingly soft-hearted Australian rescued a trapped gecko from a buried plastic trap. The food was rice and beans and very good, the structure reminded me a great deal of the beach-front restaurants on Nigeria's beaches, half a world away.