Usually known as Floreana, sometimes called Charles, Santa Maria was colonized by convicts in the 19th century, the first of the Galapagos islands to sustain a human population. The island has since acquired a reputation for murder, mystery and curious goings-on. The best known murder mystery is that of the Germans who came to the islands in the 1930s and then disappeared one by one, as in Agatha Christie’s story, The Ten Little Niggers. Margret Wittmer, the last survivor, died in 2000, aged 95. Up until then she was still in charge of the island’s only guest house and restaurant. Several books have been written about this unsolved mystery, including Margret Wittmer’s own fascinating account of life on the island, Floreana, though she leaves many questions unanswered. The full story of what happened died with Senora Wittmer.

Places to visit
Post Office Bay
Floreana boasts one of the most charming curiosities of the Galapagos Islands: the mail box of Post Office Bay, perhaps the most unusual in the world. In the days before radio and air travel, when whaling ships cruised the Pacific for years on end, a thoughtful English captain established a “post office” barrel on Floreana. The idea was that mail could be deposited in the barrel, which ships heading home would pick up. The system worked so well that during Anglo-American hostilities at the beginning in 1812, information obtained from letters stolen from the mail barrel helped an American captain destroy more than half the British whaling fleet. The original barrel is long gone, but a replacement box is still used in the same way. A Canadian visitor recently sent a letter from the Floreana mail box that arrived before a letter to the same address in Canada, which had been sent a few days earlier through the regular Ecuadorian mail.

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Punta Cormorant
Though there are more imported plants and animals than on other islands, descended from those brought by early inhabitants, Floreana has some fine visitors’ sites with a wealth of fascinating Galapagean wildlife. The best site is Punta Cormorant, on the north shore, where the beach has a green tinge because of olivine crystals in the sand. There are plenty of sea lions on the beach, and the swimming is good. Walking eastwards over a small isthmus, you pass a lagoon, where there are often flamingos and other water birds, before coming to another pleasant beach. There are a number of stingrays here so it’s important to shuffle your feet in the sand as you wade out to sea.
Also present are pintail ducks and stilts. The trail crosses a narrow neck of land and comes to a white beach on the eastern side of the island. Ghost crabs inhabit the beach, and rays and turtles can be seen in the sea.

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Devil’s Crown
Is a marine site located a short distance from the island. It is an old eroded volcanic cone and a popular roosting site for seabirds such as boobies, pelicans, and frigates. Red-billed tropicbirds nest in rocky crevices. The centre of the cone is an outstanding snorkelling spot full of sea lions and colourful fish.
This area looks dry and rocky from the surface, but the volcanic crater pinnacles that rise up from sandy rubble bottom are loaded with life. Schools of King Angelfish are common, as are large marbled rays that hide motionless under the rocky ledges. Very large balloonfish and large heiroglyphic hawkfish make way for the white-tip sharks making their escape from intrusive photographers. The rocky ridges are also home to scrawled filefish, schools of yellowtail grunts, turtles, tiger snake eels and of course, sea lions.
This is one dive where you might want to fight your way through the passing currents to nestle on the rubbled bottom at 65' and just hang out and wait to see what swims along. Groups of hammerheads and spotted eagle rays cruise back and forth across the currents and do come quite close to divers who are stationary for a while.
This site is also great for snorkelers who can be dropped in the center of the crater and swim their way to the outside.

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Black Beach
An unofficial visitor site only visited under special arrangement. Visit the Wittmer pension and small settlement of Puerto Velasco lbarra. It's famous resident, Margaret Whitmer, arrived to Floreana in the 1930's and still lives here today with her daughter. Here you can have your post cards stamped with one of four seals, sample the homemade wine. Items for sale include Floreana t-shirts and signed copies of her book, Floreana.

Champion Rock