In real life and in my novel FLOREANA, and in the 1930s and the 2020s, Post Office Bay has been a place where visitors to the island can leave and receive mail.

Back in the 1930s — when the Dore Strauch, Frederich Ritter, and the island’s other settlers rarely left — they would leave mail in the barrel at Post Office Bay, where visiting ships would take their letters to the next port of call. In fact, the tradition began far earlier, back in the eighteenth century.

Today, if you visit the Galápagos island of Floreana, you can leave a postcard for someone … and it just may get delivered! To this day, visitors to Post Office Bay go through the mail, find a postcard addressed to someone who lives near them, and hand-deliver it. No stamps required!