The south-west island Santa Maria is better known as Floreana and is closely linked to the exciting history of the German immigrant family Wittmer. Already back in the 18th century pirates lived on the island and the wooden barrel set up as a post office in the north of the island was officially listed in sea maps. One dark chapter in the island’s history is the penal colony established in 1832. This period ended with a death and there are also interesting stories about the Irishman Patrick Watson and the Berlin doctor Karl Friedrich Ritter who arrived in Floreana in 1929 along with his partner Dore Strauch and his steel dentures. This interesting couple then had to share the island a few years later with the Rhineland natives Heinz and Margret Wittmer and the so-called “Baroness” Wagner-Bosquet along with her three lovers. Mysterious fatalities in the following years repeatedly focused the eyes of the world press on the Galapagos paradise and the island of Floreana. Margret Wittmer’s novel “Postlagernd Floreana” attracted an equal amount of attention in 1959.

Even now the Wittmer family and their descendants are the sole inhabitants of the island aside from a small military post and a few fishing families. The Wittmers still run a boarding house today which is the only accommodation on the island. There are plans, however, for a small wooden bungalow complex.

A stay at the boarding house of the Wittmer family is the highlight of any Galapagos trip although only very few tourists are privy to this. There is no more intensive way of experiencing the Galapagos and reliving the history of the archipelago and its first inhabitants. Their descendant Erika Wittmer attends to the culinary needs of her guests with her German-Ecuadorian cuisine. The family pet, the giant tortoise “Solitario”, has already seen several generations of the family come and go.

On the long beach in front of the Wittmer boarding house (Puerto Velasco Ibarra) numerous green marine turtles can be observed. The highlands are home to a group of young and middle aged giant tortoises whose father is said to be “Solitario”. Today the tortoises live under the protection of the National Park. The original sub-species of tortoise on Floreana (Geochelone elephantopus elephantopus) is said to have died out towards the end of the 19th century as a consequence of their being hunted by pirates and seafarers.

Helpful links with further information on the Internet can be found in the Directory. For a collection of photo impressions plese refer to "Impressions: Santa Maria".