16^th November – Valparaiso

Typical steps up the hills

We were told that we were being picked up at 10am by our guide, which we thought extremely civilised after so many early starts.  Imagine my shock then when I looked at the clock somewhat groggily and realised it was 9.10am!!  I had to wake up both Chris and Mum who were still sleeping deeply and we just had time to shower, dress and have breakfast before 10am.   This doesn’t bode well for our 4am start in 2 days time!!

Our guide, who I’m ashamed to admit I can’t recall her name, was a really lovely lady who was incredibly knowledgeable and enthusiastic and gave us a super tour of this wonderful city.

Brightly coloured houses

Valparaiso is the 3^rd largest city in Chile and is still an important sea port today.  Its golden age was in the 19^th century when it was the centre for exportation of guano and sodium nitrate.  Many Europeans came to live here – notably the British, the French, Germans and Italians and all have left their mark here.   Sailors called it “Little San Francisco” or “The Jewel of the Pacific”, and it’s true the climate is very similar to San Francisco – i.e. –often very foggy and but with a mild Mediterranean climate.  Examples of its former glory include Latin Americas first stock exchange, the continents first volunteer fire department, Chile’s first public library and oldest Spanish language newspaper in continuous publication in the world.  The opening of the Panama Canal and subsequent reduction in ship traffic dealt a staggering blow to Valparaiso.  The 2^nd half of the twentieth century was not kind to the city as many wealthy families abandoned it and many of its beautiful old buildings fell into disrepair. 

One of the funicular railways

In 2003 the historic quarter became a UNESCO world heritage site, and lots of money was pumped into the city which has had had an impressive renaissance.  It now attracts lots of poets, artists and cultural entrepreneurs and hosts many festivals and is now officially Chile’s cultural capital.  It is also a major educational centre as has 4 prestigious universities here.  As part of the deal to become a UNESCO world heritage site, the city was suposed to cull all the stray dogs, but there was a huge objection to this by the local population.  A deal was struck whereby all the stray dogs were rounded up and sterilised and were fed and provided with water by the locals.  We saw lots o dogs on the street, and they were all friendly and looked plump and happy.  Tourists flock here now to admire the brightly coloured and interesting houses and the cobbled streets and enjoy the funicular railways so necessary for moving around easily in this city set on several steep hills.  Many of the buildings date from after 1906 when the city was devastated by a major earthquake when 3000 people were killed and 20,000 injured as well.  The houses used to be made from adobe which doesn't stand up to earth tremors.  Today the houses are much more substantially built but are still clad in corrugated iron to battle the constant humidity. The reason for the bright colours is that initially the houses had no numbers so had so could only be identified to visitors by their colour which had to literally stand out from all their neighbours.  The city still has many earthquakes today – apparently 10 to 20 are not unusual.

HQ of the Chilean navy

Our walking tour encompassed a lot of the expensive residential area on the hills and took in the early and very plain Protestant church and also the later Lutheran church.  We then went down to the Plain, which is flat area by the port where the main squares are with the various monuments and fountains and also the financial district.  I particularly enjoyed the huge Plaza Sotomayor with the French influenced Navy Headquarters and the monument that honours Chilean sailors who fell in the Battles of Iquique and Punta Gruesa.  We stopped off for refreshments in the Natural History museum which has a really lovely cafe with an incredible ceiling.

Some of the street art

Everywhere we walked there was most amazing street art – on house walls and most buildings.  I really loved it and thought it was great fun and really added to the vibrancy of the city.  We travelled on 2 of the funiculars which was also a great experience – apparently there were about 28 working at one time, although only 10 or so are still in use today.

View across the city with the Lutheran church

After the tour, we chose to relax by the pool and read books or snoozed in the sun and enjoyed the great views from our hotel terrace over the port.  At 6pm, we  went for a wander on a route recommended by our guide and enjoyed the vibrant colours in the sunshine as it had been overcast in the morning.  We found a nice place for a drink with great views of the Lutheran church and then ambled back towards our hotel and had a super dinner in Sabor Color, an intimate restaurant not far from our hotel.

14th - 15th November Time to leave the Galapagos

Sadly this adventure has come to an end. After breakfast we leave on the pangas for the last time for Santa Fe. Our first stop is the Interpretation Centre which details some of the history of the Galapagos Islands including the murders, the Whaling etc.. The last part is the future, which quite frankly includes too much human occupation. There is a section on the pressure on fresh water and sewage. The answer to the problem is glaringly obvious, but I guess, not politically sensitive.

Note the sea lions on the pavement!

After the centre we are dropped at the end of the main street called Avenida Charles Darwin, I don’t think the great man would have been too proud of this one. The first shop that we see is a converted fishing vessel that is now on dry land. It was quite funky and fun although what was sold was sadly replicated in almost every shop we passed with varying degrees of tackiness. Think Brighton seaside tat with sealions lounging at points along the street and you have it. I was a little depressed that this was the last impression we will get of these wonderful islands and fear for its future.

At about 11:30 we were given our tickets and taken to the airport. This is being upgraded/built and it is obvious that there are plans to have more tourists coming here. The flight left on time and we passed through low cloud and the islands disappeared into the mist once again.

We were met at Guayaquil and transported to the Hilton Colon nearby. As it turns out some of our shipmates are there as well – the Walrus and the Mermaid and more importantly Steve and Debbie. Steve invited us upstairs as Debbie had been upgraded to the executive suite and invited us to join them for drinks (free) and something to eat.  It was really lovely spending some more time with this very engaging couple.

15^th November.

An early start and off to the airport for our flight to Santiago. Apart from me being called out to go see the DNA (Drugs and Narcotics Agency) there was not much to report. Actually it was Tamsin’s bag that they wanted to look at. We can only assume that it was a spot check as they rummaged through her dirties sans gloves before closing the case and thanking us.

The flight to Santiago was just under 5 hours long. From the window looking down I could see the Andes in the distance with snow capped peaks and long sweeping valleys with now dry river beds. Some areas are cultivated so there was a surprising amount of green with lots of brown around it.

Immigration was passed through easily as a helpful official added the information that we had missed (not like coming into the UK then!).

The vibrant coloured houses of Valparaiso

We had been warned about the taxi drivers tricking people into taking rides as we came out of arrivals so were prepared. The one who tried it on was pleasant enough and once I made it clear that we were being met I left us alone. Trouble was where was our guide? We waited at the designated place with no sign of them. Another taxi driver passed by and asked if we need a taxi, I told him no, and said that we were waiting. He then offered to make a call as we had been there a while. I called the office of Latitude 90 and was told that the guide, Nestor, was on his way. I thanked the driver who was pleased that he could be of help. Nestor arrived after we had been waiting about 40 minutes and took us to a waiting minibus. Nestor turned out to be a charming and chatty guy and although we were disappointed in his tardy time keeping we soon forgave him.

Look at this wiring!

The drive to Valparaiso took about 90 minutes. Valparaiso was partially shrouded in mist as we drove in, the streets are narrow and twisty and follow the contours of the land up and down, in and out. I was glad not to be driving. The houses are a mixture of wooden, brick and cement walls with either tile or tin roofs all are painted in bright colours with no two in a street the same colour. Some are ruins and other s in various states of repair. I would describe it as shabby chic.  The other notable thing is the incredible amounts of ugly wiring which hang across all the streets ruining quite a few viewpoints!  Apparently, most of it is redundant phone wiring which no-one has got round to removing.

Part of the port

Casa Higueras is a delight with dark wooden floors, clean white walls and superb views of the busy harbour. In the harbour were two container ships and part of the Chilean navy (4 frigates, a corvette,  support vessel and a submarine).

13th November – Santa Fe & South Plaza.

We had a wet landing this morning on to what looked like a pristine white sandy beach on Santa Fe with sea lions scattered around us.  What you can’t see or smell from a distance is all the poop everywhere, and as it stinks so much you really don’t want any sticking to your shoes.  We were warned that it was a very difficult walk, but as it turned out, it was quite easy  - you just had to watch your step as the ground was quite uneven.

Triffid-like prickly pears

We walked up a short slope onto the cliff edge which was lined with enormous, tall and very old Opuntia (or prickly pear) plants.  They almost looked triffid like.  Lola pointed out a couple of the land iguanas which are much lighter coloured here to blend in with the local rock, which when weathered turns a lightish yellow colour.  The lava lizards were also patterned differently.

We also enjoyed watching a pair of blue footed boobies flying together and then doing their death defying dives into the sea hunting for fish.

The walk ended up on another beach also littered with sea lions.  We even saw a very young pup, which still had the remnants of its umbilical cord attached, bonding with his mother and crying out for milk. 

Blue footed booby

We also saw a laughing gull, which is a migratory bird from northern America.  We then caught the panga back to the boat and then embarked on the next activity.  Chris chose to go snorkelling and got some stonking pictures and video of a ray plus some nice photos of some of the fish.  Compared to most other people, we are incredibly low tech and don’t have the fancy underwater cameras (GoPro - cw) that most of them do.

I chose to go on the glass bottomed boat with Mum.  We were pangaed out there and then had to do a slightly hair raising transfer over to it.  We saw lots of lovely fish and even a sea lion passed under the boat.  Unfortunately though, it wasn’t long before I started to feel sea sick so had to spend the rest of the time deep breathing and concentrating on looking at the horizon.  We got back to La Pinta just in time for me to make it to the privacy our own bathroom before retching in the loo.  I really am a terrible sailor!

We passed up the talk on Charles Darwin this afternoon.  Our final walk was around South Plaza Island, which Chris and I thought looked rather Martian as it had a lot of ground succulents growing on it which were very stressed so had turned bright red in colour.  There were also large prickly pear trees but no young ones due to the pressure of too many iguanas due to man killing Galapagos Hawks on Santa Fe as they think they’re the same as raptors on the mainland and eat chickens etc..  Here, the land iguanas were smaller than elsewhere and also cross bred with the marine iguanas which resulted in a rather strange looking but infertile hybrid.

As we landed, we had to walk through a colony of nesting swallow tailed seagulls, which have evolved to be nocturnal due to the pressure of all the frigate birds.  I think they are very handsome birds although some of the babies are rather ugly.

Red billed tropic bird

We crossed the island to a steep cliff edge where we enjoyed watching the varied sea birds flying below us.  I spent ages trying to get a good photo of the red billed tropic bird, which was very difficult as they flew so fast.  However, my perseverance paid off eventually.....

All along the cliff edge, various sea birds could be seen interspersed with sea lions of various ages.  We then crossed the island to the lower area where we witnessed a large bull sea lion ushering some of his harem up on to dry land.  As we slowly wandered back to meet our panga we were all just amazed by all of the sea lion and sea bird activity – we’re very lucky as there are a of young animals and birds around at the moment.

We then transferred back to La Pinta where we’ve just enjoyed a cocktail on the top deck. Next we have a presentation and slide show of our week here and the Captain’s farewell cocktail party.....

12th November Fish and chips

Postman Pat?

We sailed to Floreana during the evening and arrived in the wee hours of the morning at Post Office Bay. First up was a wet landing and an easy walk on the island to visit the Post Box. This is a barrel that has been there since 1793??? It was set up when whaling boats frequented the area. The premise is that you drop off your letters, search through the post that’s there and take any that you can hand deliver. It’s still in operation today. The guides searched through the post and called out the addresses - surprisingly there was one for a place not far from us in Portugal and another close to Gill. One letter was addressed to Kim-il Jong on Pyongyang, North Korea – it’s been there a while!!

We got back in the boats and motored over to the next bay which has a dark story to tell. This is a story of love, lust, treachery and murder in the early 1930s. There is a book written by Dora Strauch and called Satan came to Eden and will soon be a film. Originally Friedrich Ritter and his lover Dora Strauch escaped their marriages to settle successfully on Black Beach, Floreana. Later another German family arrived (1933), the Wittmers and a strange group of German socialites arrived: Rolf Lorenz, Robert Phillipson and the notorious Baroness Eloise Von Wagner. By 1934, four of the seven disappeared or died unexpectedly. Part of the story involves setting up a hotel for the few visiting wealthy people who came out this way. This was to be located in this new bay. The location is stunning and the only built bit you can still see are the walls of the house that are made from lava rocks. We walked up the steps to a look out to enjoy the view a bit better and passed the navigational light for the island.

A King Angelfish

Tamsin and I then rushed back down as we had signed up for kayaking. Getting into the kayaks involved going from one panga to another and then into the kayak. Not easy for some of the less dexterous. Paddling around we managed to get quite close to sealions and the rocks. We went into a shallow cove where we told there were White Tipped Reef Sharks. We paddled over the top of two before turning around and heading back.

After lunch we had signed up for deep water snorkelling. Initially we were a bit concerned as it was quite rough. However, once in the water all concerns disappeared. The water was teeming with fish. I looked down into the depth and could only see shoals of fish down as far as I could see (50+ metres). This is one of the points that one of the colder deep sea currents comes up as it hits land and is very nutrient rich, hence the fish. We had to move across between two points as there was a Bull Sealion on patrol. Tamsin was taking lots of pictures and missed a Barracuda that swam below us. There was also an eel that we missed, but there was so much going on that it would be difficult not to miss something.

Stunning view over the kayaking lagoon

The last activity of the day was another walk with a wet landing. This was at Punta Cormorant where we walked very close to pregnant female sealions and looked at the sand as this contains “olivene” which is a semi precious stone and a result of the volcanic activity. No surprise that it is green in colour and gives the beach sand a slight green hue. The lake at this point contained a few Flamingos, not the amount we had wanted. The smell was something else and is a mixture bird poop, volcanic ash and vegetal decay.  The result is sulphurous as Steve found out when he stepped in it! The next cove over was a contrast as the sand is whiter. We watched as turtles lined up to come in when it’s darker to lay their eggs. You can see the tracks in the sand. Apparently they lay up to 600 eggs and spread these over up to 10 nests.

Dinner this evening included a portion of chips - yippee!!

11th November: Santa Cruz and tortoises galore.....

Young tortoises at the breeding centre

Sailed overnight a short distance to Puerto Ayora, the largest town on the south of Santa Cruz island. This is one of the few inhabited parts of the Galapagos and where the Tortoise breeding centre is based. We disembarked and got on a bus to the breeding centre. On the walk in Ramiro told us about the different mangroves and their functions – they are white, red, black and button mangrove all clearly identified by either their fruits, their tangled (or not) roots and their leaf sizes. He is quite dismissive of local and national policy towards the Galapagos and thinks that the needs of the humans are below the native flora and fauna – he’s very radical! He explained that all the tortoise eggs (that can be found) are raised in the centre for all islands and that selective breeding of more females is the norm. This is achieved by raising eggs at specific temperatures as this determines the sex of the hatchlings.  We toured the centre and saw tortoises of various sizes with different coloured markings on their shells which delineated which island they were from, their age and their sex.  At 6 years old they are released back to the island from which they originated.

A large saddle backed tortoise

Sue and Glen, very keen and knowledgeable bird watchers from Yorkshire, told us that they had a tortoise that Sue had owned for 50 years called Herman.  He sounds a real character and seems to buck the trend with reptile behaviour as he recognises them and actually comes to them when called.  He also hates the lawn mower as sees it as a potential rival and we were shown a video clip of him pushing the lawn mower off the grass into the shrubbery.

The tour also included a trek through the gardens which were planted with only native or endemic plants – all clearly labelled, which was a Godsend to TJV.  All the plants were duly photographed and recorded. 

We then walked the mile or so back into town past various souvenir shops and bars/cafes.  We did stop off for a refreshing coconut milk drink in one cafe where we wrote our postcards.  We then had to find the PO where it took ages to buy the very expensive stamps and we were just in time to meet the rest of the group to be pangaed to a hotel just up the bay for lunch.

After lunch, we were boated back to the main jetty to get on a bus for a 25 minute journey up into the highlands (shrouded in mist and possible rain clouds from what we could see) to a farm where tortoises supposedly roamed freely. As we ascended the hillside, the vegetation very quickly became much more lush and “tropical” feeling and the mist soon enveloped us.  We eventually arrived at the farm having spotted several tortoises on route just grazing on grass by the side of the roads. 

Giant tortoises in the wild

We were duly fitted out with wellies and then set off with Ramiro to tour the farm.  He seemed to be going much more slowly than the other guides and we soon got a long lecture about almost anything but tortoises, which C and I found frustrating.  Having told us that the tortoises liked open ground, unbelievingly, we soon found ourselves in a woodland (not unlike an English woodland until you checked out the vicious spines on some of the tree trunks), but even so, we still spotted the occasional tortoise on the open land outside the farm boundary.  Don’t get me wrong - we still saw lots of tortoises looking rather out of place on the open grassland, but I just wanted to have a closer look see like the other groups seemed to be having.

At the end of our walk, we had a refreshing drink at the farm before catching the bus back into town and then the panga back to the ship.  In our absence, our mischievous cabin boy had made a faux body on our bed with our clothes, towels and pillows, which made us all laugh.

We then had the briefing for the next day – again, action packed – and then had a most enjoyable meal before collapsing into our beds.

10th November Isla Rabida and Cerro Dragon.

Galapagos mockingbirds

After sailing overnight from the West side of Isabella Island we are now anchored off Isla Rabida (or Jervis). I was wake at 5:30 when they dropped anchor and soon got up to investigate. Looking towards the cove I can see the red beach and some sealions.

Vermilion flyctacher

Phew! Just got back from a fantastic morning, walking along the shore of the cove on Rabida Island and its brackish lagoon and then snorkelling along the rocks. As we disembarked from the pangas we were met with a reception committee of Galapagos Mocking birds. Obviously there was some rivalry as we had a face-off between two families of birds who were more concerned about each other than us. Lola led 5 of us; Tamsin, Gill, Steve, Debbie and myself. We were on the lookout for the Vermillion Fly catcher and possibly a Flamingo. We very quickly realised that there would be no Flamingo on the lagoon. Lola explained that the lagoon had a brown shrimp in it that the Flamingos liked, but if the salt level was not right they would hibernate. As it was the end of the dry season it was likely that they were doing that. Our first bird spot was a shy Galapagos Fly Catcher. At the end of the lake we spotted a flash of red of the male Vermillion Fly Catcher. Tamsin struggled to get a good photo as the bird is almost in constant movement catching flies. As moved away from the lagoon and onto the beach we noticed some Ghost Crabs. One seemed to be very brave as they normally disappear down their tunnels in the sand very quickly, hence the name. It was only as we got very close did it disappear to reappear almost immediately. I spotted that that tunnel already had an occupant!

A daring young bachelor tries his luck

We walked past sleeping female sealions and watched a large male appear from the sea sniff her before settling down himself. Not long after another male appeared and also sniffed the female. This new male was smaller and once the original male realised his presence he was soon chased off back into the sea. The dominant males have little rest during the breeding season as this battle to form  “harems” is constant.

The beautiful Galapagos dove

As we walked back toward our starting point we passed an American Oyster Catcher and a Tattler. The cactus here has soft spikes and not too many of them as it doesn’t need to protect itself from the Land Iguanas. Lola explained that we might see Cactus Finch as we started up an incline. However we did see some small brown finches, but these do not have the correct beak. We also saw the Galapagos Dove which is normally shy, but not today as both the ones we saw seemed to be unfazed by us. At a lookout point we looked down to see a sealion taking a nap, marine iguanas scampering over the rocks and Noddy terns, Brown Pelicans and Nazca Boobys flying overhead. Beyond the ocean looked slightly turquoise and inviting which is just as well as we headed back to the beach to get changed for snorkelling, or in Gills case out on the glass bottomed boat.

Razor Surgeon fish

Almost as soon as you move away from the surf line the fish appear beneath you. There were large shoals of different types of small fish and at some point a shoal of large fish with grey bodies and yellow tails. Diving down to look at some of the larger fish didn’t seem to bother them too much. There are fish of so many shapes and sizes and colours. Apparently I was so preoccupied with taking pictures that I missed the sealion going passed me – twice! As we moved along the coast we started to realise that the current was pulling us along faster and faster. Not wanting to end up in Tahiti we turned back towards the shore. Once back on the beach we were ready to go back to the ship having had a very pleasant morning.

Greater flamingos

Over lunch the ship raised anchor and headed for Cerro Dragon, or Dragon Mountain. This is on Santa Cruz Island (Indefatigable). Landing on a sandy beach was a surprise seeing as the island is volcanic. The sand is made up over millions of years by small sea crustaceans and is very white. The initial path was quite difficult as the path goes across lumps of lava, however just before the end of this you go around the edge a brackish lake, not unlike the one on Rabida except this one had 5 Flamingos on it. These are Caribbean Greater Flamingos although they only migrate between the Galapagos Islands. They number a max of 2,000 birds and can only assume that the there are quite a few lakes around with Brown Shrimp in them to support the other 1,995! Also on the lake were Black necked Stilt, Whimbrels and a kind of Sand Piper(?) Just as we were moving away from the Lake we spotted some animals on the far side of the lake. These are goats that have escaped from Santa Cruz (town/city) which is on the south of the island. Ramiro, our guide was not happy with this and almost started on a rant and would rather see tourist/the government/people in general eradicated from the Galapagos (okay I exaggerate!) as there are also Donkeys on the island all competing with the Land Iguanas. Just after saying this we saw piles of Donkey poo!

Opuntia cacti

The rest of the walk to the top of Cerro Dragon we passed lots of Opuntia cacti. These differ from the previous island in that they are coated in stiff spikes, which look almost beard-like, to protect themselves from the Land Iguanas. As the cacti age and get taller, the lower spines fall off to reveal a thick woody trunk which is impregnable. As we reached the top of Cerro Dragon we were presented with a lovely view back toward the bay and the boat or south towards Santa Cruz. Ramiro pointed out an area that the goats have decimated and I can understand his concern about the goats getting back into the habitat as there was an area of about 100m in diameter that is almost stripped of vegetation.  As we started our decent back to the ship we spotted a Cactus Finch, and then another – common as muck ;^). As we walked back around the lake we spotted more Whimbrels landing on the water and enjoyed the setting sun highlighting a few of the flamingos so that they almost seemed to glow.

9th November – They promised us giant tortoises......

Ramiro 

Chris was up and about early and went pelican spotting from the back of the boat before breakfast.  Mum and I both slept in later.  This morning we were taken to Urbina Bay about half way down the west coast of Isabela island. It was a wet landing which involved swinging our legs over the side of the panga and slithering inelegantly into the sea about half way up our calves – or almost up to her knees in Mum’s case.

The sand was very black and fine as was volcanic in origin.  We dried our feet on the towels that were conveniently to hand and put our shoes back on.  Our 1^st spots were a Galapagos hawk and a brown pelican.  Our guide, Ramiro, told us that in 1954 the island had been significantly uplifted by 5 metres so that all that we were standing on was previously under the sea.  You could clearly see that as the black larva had remnants of old molluscs still on them.  We then set off on a circular walk hoping to find a giant tortoise.

Flowers of the muyuyo tree

Unlike yesterday, this part of the island had a lot of plants on it although some weren’t in leaf as it’s still the dry season here.  We saw the incense trees that we saw the 1^st day with their bare white trunks and stems plus some new plants – a tough looking but quite fine leafed mounding couch grass; thorn bushes; masses of salt plants in full flower, although their flowers are tiny but quite beautiful close up; the largest trees on the island are poison apples which exude a white latex when damaged and are apparently in the Euphorbia family; the sticky berry plant or muyuyo which has stunning yellow flowers and a white berry like fruit which is very sticky hence its common name; cotton with its large distinctive yellow flowers, green velvet and a few acacia trees.  We were told that most of the flowers on the island are either white or yellow as they are pollinated by the carpenter bee which can only see those colours.

Land iguna

We saw quite a few birds including a flycatcher, various finches and the Galapagos mocking bird which has the most beautiful song very similar to our song thrush.  There were also quite a few land iguanas and we could see their nests which are just rough holes in the ground which are then filled in after the eggs are laid and we even saw one female guarding her nest. 

We were told that goats had been a major problem on the island as they were competing with the tortoises for the same food.  In 2006, a decision was reached to cull all of the goats which numbered some 2-300,000.  This involved bringing in various hunters and shooters plus dogs with special bootees to protect their feet from the razor sharp larva rocks and neutered female goats pumped full of pheromones to lure the males into a honey trap.  The whole operation took over a year and cost more than $30 million, but was successful in the end.  Not everyone agreed with it though as the dead carcasses were just left where they fell and in the short term led to a huge increase in the hawk population due to the food bonanza. Now, any tortoise eggs are dug up and taken to the central tortoise sanctuary where they are reared and then released back into the wild when they are 6 years old, and gradually the tortoise population is increasing again.

Chris with part of the shell

At this point, Ramiro told us we were very unlikely to see any tortoises as most of them lived above 300 metres and were higher up the slopes of the volcano which was hidden in low cloud!  Why promise us tortoises I thought to myself?  Instead we saw the remains of a shell of a young female tortoise that had died some years ago – what a disappointment!  By then we were almost back at the beach and so rejoined the path by the large poison apple tree and got back into the pangas to be ferried back to the ship.  When we got back on board I discovered that annoyingly, the group behind us (& Americans to boot) led by our favourite guide, Lola, saw a tortoise and she couldn’t believe we’d missed it as she said we must have walked right past it. Grrr.

During lunch, our boat motored back north retracing our steps a bit and has just moored at Tagus bay.  From our cabin, we can see steep grey volcanic cliffs smothered in the bare white trunks of the incense trees.  Some of the cliffs have graffiti on them dating from the 19^th century.  We’ve also spotted the yacht that the Swedish party from Napo lodge have chartered – maybe we’ll bump into them again this afternoon as we came across them rather unexpectedly on this morning’s walk!

This afternoon’s activities include optional kayaking or snorkelling followed by a “strenuous” walk (about 400 metres which includes 125 steps) up the side of a volcano.  We had signed up for the snorkelling, but have cried off and think we’re going to go and sit in the Jacuzzi instead.  We’re hoping that the strenuous walk may be high enough to include some giant tortoises?

It turns out that our choice of Jacuzzi for the water activity was a wise one as the water was choppy so that the snorkelling wasn’t that enjoyable according to some of our fellow travellers.  Comparing stories it seems that Gabriel, the older guide, is the bum choice when it comes to snorkelling.  He just announces that it’s obvious that everyone in the panga is a good snorkeller and then leaps into the water and takes himself off to do his own thing.  Both times he’s been the guide (& we experienced him once), there have been inexperienced snorkelers who have got into difficulty and needed extra help, tuition and encouragement and he’s not been there to help them. 

Half way through the "strenuous walk"

At 4pm we set off for the “strenuous walk” hoping that the description was being over sensationalised to cover themselves.  We had a dry landing and then walked up a slope with some rough natural steps in it to a clearing with an overhang of rock which had various graffiti and carvings in it.  The oldest carving dated from 1836 – the year after Charles Darwin made his historical visit to the Galapagos Islands – fascinating just to see it carved in the rock.  We then climbed the 126 wooden steps and followed a gentle uphill path through the leafless incense trees seeing various finches flitting through the bare branches.  Interestingly, the incense trees “split” naturally in the dry weather and exude a thick resin which smells incredible – I would just love to have this wood available locally in Portugal as our house would smell heavenly!

The 2nd viewpoint

Eventually we reached the 1^st viewpoint which gave us a surprising view over a very saline lake which abutted the sea separated by a low natural barrier of larval rocks.  We continued uphill walking around the lake and came to a 2^nd more spectacular viewpoint looking back over the lake to the sea with our ship in the background.  At this point, we passed the Swedish party again – yes, it really is a small world.  We left 2 of our party here (cruelly nicknamed the Walrus and the Mermaid) and continued on uphill as were aiming for the black rocks in the distance which made up the volcanic cone – Mum insisted on coming with us and amazed lots of people with her tenacity and incredible level of fitness for her age – of course, Chris and I weren’t surprised at all!

Of course, we made the volcanic cone and another surprise awaited us as we had the most amazing view north up the rest of Isabela island and could clearly see the other 2 huge volcanoes and another enormous lake with a high level plateau.  It really was stunning up there and made the whole walk most worthwhile.

We then retraced our steps and had a much easier journey downhill – Mum almost skipping her way down!  It was then back on the pangas, drinkies on the top deck then the briefing about tomorrow’s activities.  We then had dinner with Steve and Debbie, a really delightful couple from Michigan, which I find fascinating as I have never met anyone from there before.  In my ignorance, I never thought there was much there apart from Detroit which has had so much negative publicity, so have been most interested to hear more about it.  They are very well travelled Americans, and like most nationalities, if you’re well travelled, then you tend to be very open and interested in everything and anything, and, of course, interesting in return.