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Escape the crowds

Would you like to stay in the only hotel on a remote, tropical island? Well, you’d better take your mobile phone with you, because there’s only one telephone too! Welcome to Wittmer Lodge Hotel on Floreana Island. It’s a great place to stay because it has amazing views of the ocean. It’s also located on a black, sandy beach, which is quite unusual, and if you want to see green sand, you can visit the beach at Cormorant Point. So where is this island?

Floreana Island is part of the Galapagos Islands, which lie in the Pacific Ocean 906 kilometres west of Ecuador. It was first called Charles Island, after King Charles II of England. It was later renamed Floreana Island after Juan José Flores, the first president of Ecuador, and the island is now ruled by Ecuador. Floreana Island has the most interesting human history of all of the Galapagos Islands. It was the home to the first Galapagos resident – a man from Ireland called Patrick Watkins. He lived there from 1807 to 1809.

Floreana is only 67 square kilometres, and its highest point is Cerro Pajas at 640 metres, which is the highest point of the island’s only volcano. There are approximately a hundred people living on the island. Around seventy people live in Puerto Velasco Ibarra, which is the port town; everyone else lives in the higher parts of the island.

Two of these islanders are the daughter and granddaughter of Margret Wittmer. Wittmer was the second person ever to settle on the island. She arrived in 1932 when she was pregnant, with her husband Heinz and her stepson Harry. When her son Rolf was born, he was the first person to be born in Galapagos. Margret lived to the age of 95 and welcomed hundreds of tourists to her hotel, including presidents. Today her daughter runs the hotel.

What is daily life like on Floreana? It’s quiet! There is not much transport to Floreana. There is only a boat that comes from Santa Cruz island approximately every two weeks. There is just one school with two teachers, and there aren’t any restaurants or bars. But if you are interested in the animals, birds and sea life then Floreana is the perfect destination for you!

Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)?

1. The hotel is on a green sandy beach.

Floreana Island was named after the King of Ecuador.

Most of the islanders live in Puerto Velasco Ibarra. 

Margret Wittner’s son Rolf is now the hotel manager. 

The boat comes twice a month to the island. 

There are approximately a thousand people living on the island.

Rolf was the first person to be born in Galapagos.

The daily life on Floreana is noisy.

There is only a boat that comes from Santa Cruz island approximately every 14 days.

A large number of different species are in Floreana Island.