During the early hours of this morning the boat moved to the north of the island called San Cristobal, to a spot called Point Pitt. As promised Mauricio woke us at 5.30 am to the mind-sticking tune of Billy Joel's Piano Man) for a 6.00 am departure to the Island. Among many of the restrictions on tourism to the Galapagos is that access to the islands is only permitted between the hours of 6am - 6 pm and our early trip was designed to allow us 2 hours on the island before 4 other scheduled tours arrived. Our timing was perfect and as we walked back onto the beach to depart, 2 other tours arrived.

But back to our wet landing on the beach ... There were several sea lions on the beach to greet us, but that was all and we are pretty much accustomed to sea lions and hardly give them a second glance. Interestingly this island has a base of sedimentary rock formed from layers of ash, and overlaid with lava flows / lava bombs. If some of my pics are ok I will attach. There's a long and very interesting story to be told about the geology of these islands - their formation, rapid and slow changes, uplifting and subsiding, and volcanic activity - but it isn't one I will attempt to tell here due to its complexity. My very amateur observations are only based on the minimal secondary school geology that I learnt so that I could keep one lesson ahead of my students for a few years.

From the beach we had a steep climb up the hill in front of us and heard something of the damage done by the introduced goats, pigs, cats and dogs which were brought in by farmers on the larger, flatter areas / islands. As a result, on San Cristobel colonies of the red footed boobies were wiped out . Fortunately there is one other nesting spot for these birds on the Galapagos and as an introduced animals eradication program had more impact, so these birds have returned to this islands and the numbers are increasing every year.

We didn't have trouble finding nests and observing adults (white) and juveniles (brown) on and building nests. The red footed boobies lay one egg each year and the parents take turns sitting on the egg and raising the young. As a result, largely because of the protectiveness of the parents the success rate from egg to adult is high and there are more red footed boonies here than the blue footed or the naster ones (who lay more eggs but because of struggles between chicks have higher losses).

We spent time watching the birds and walking around an elevated ares, observing 'change overs' of one parent for the next and some pairs / individuals building their neat on the top of spindly bushes, which have minimal green leaves at present, but which will quickly sprout their fleshy, water storing leaves when the rain comes .

Next we made our way back down the steep climb to the beach past a gathering crowd of sea lions and a few sea iguanas. At a little after 8am were tucking into breakfast before having a few hours to rest while the boat took us around the island to Kicker Rock and preparation for our next snorkelling adventure.

Kicker Rock is several vertical rocks (see pic) which from one perspective look like a boot, and from another look like a lion - so the local name in Spanish refers to the lion view. The plan was to snorkel around the rocks and at one stage to snorkel through the widest gap between the rocks without backup support during this 100 meters (usually the zodiacs follow us closely while we are snorkelling and a raised arm will bring one over quickly. I must note that through this adventure the crew have been very attentive and in briefings and all activities, every detail is attended to so that (apart from the initial snorkelling terror) I have always felt very confident that I am safe) .

Mind you there are very strict guidelines for tourism activities (for example relating to the use of life vests on boat transfers) here, and amazingly strict penalties for illegal activities around the Galapagos. For example for commercial fishing there are increasingly drastic penalties for any company (so the increasing level of severity does not apply to just individual boats) with the first offence involving imprisonment of crew until the huge fine is paid, the second offence includes a huger fine and crew imprisonment + the boat is sold, and the third offence results in the ship being sunk and even bigger fines.

As you can guess they say there is now no illegal fishing in the Galapagos. ��

We arrived safely at Kicker Rock - see pics - which was quite majestic the way it / they rise up, though the rocks are a remnant of a larger rock formation. We partially prepared for snorkelling with wetsuits half on then played 'wildlife spotting' as the boat circled the rock and we checked out the rocks, nests on top and saw sea lions and turtles in the water (pic of rock + me) .

As our fearless leader, the much loved sergeant Mauricio had a reputation for having little patience for those who did not fully understand all of his instructions on the first round, I did take the opportunity to press my question about the potential one way nature of our upcoming snorkel path through the gap in the rocks. My multiple enquiries (and still I wasn't clear) which were not received well, were however received with smirks from my fellow travellers about my attempts to press the point despite Mauricio insisting he had told me (maybe you had to be there but I can explain) and succeeded in bringing our group a bit closer with their mirth, which was nice as 10 of our number are to depart tomorrow.

As an aside our group have been excellent, with everyone participating in nearly all activities and a lot of camaraderie between the members of what is a diverse group. In fact, when asked whether we were the best ever group, sergeant Mauricio did admit that we were an terrific group and that the participation level and cohesiveness has been excellent . Well done us.

Into the water and off to snorkel through the gap in the rocks. We got going after a false start due to the current coming towards us rather than with us and climbing aboard the zodiacs to be ferried around the ip other side, it was a wonderful snorkel despite the visibility not being that great and the overcast conditions. A highlight for me apart from masses of fish, several reef sharks and a hammerhead doing a u-turn right under me was seeing 3 eagle rays (ie sting rays). As you know I don't have an underwater camera but on the wall of the dining room is a painting of the same rays which picks up most of what I saw (photo of painting attached).

These 3 fabulous creatures were swimming in formation below me when they turned right in front of me so I turned with them and followed them for about 20 m before heading off in another direction. They were beautiful, black with white markings and I was close enough to observe the detail on their heads, that one had a very long tail while the others had very short ones and to observe while they just gently waved the very edges of their bodies and seemingly effortlessly cruised along, about 2 m below me . WOW.

That was about it and we were back into the zodiacs for the short trip back to the boast, quick change and lunch. This time we had a very Ecuadorian meal with yummy ceviche to start with followed by similar dishes to those i had with my guide when we went to the equator - chicken, salads, lots of potatoes, then fruit salad.

The boat then moved and we had an hour or so to do whatever (writing, music for me) then another snorkelling opportunity - I figured that I would maximise these opportunities in order to keep you entertained and so set out with only half our total number to a spot not very far from the boat along a rocky shore.

Given that half of our fellow travellers had opted not to join us on this adventure, on the journey out we did playfully propose that we report some exaggerated levels of animal life on our return, but this was not necessary. The first section had some lovely fish - tiny and middle sized schools, and some larger individuals, as well as some molluscs on the rocks (sea cucumber, sea urchins) . Next we came to where there some sea lions on the rocks and some in the water. One in particular approached most of us individually and did this thing whereby it hung in an inverted U shape peering quite closely at us - it did it to me several times so that I had a very close view of its beautiful big eyes and all its features, then it sort of corkscrewed down and twisted around. When one of the young girls who is a good snorkeller, followed it down it sort of corkscrewed around her as if they were doing a diving sort of dance. This went on and on. Amazing.

Next we found a turtle swimming close to the bottom, about 3 m down, and followed it while it seemed to effortlessly guide align with little flaps of its fore limbs. Again we followed it for a while, then found a diamond ray coming back in the other direction. I followed it and watched it's effortless strokes and wondered about the fish following it. But when the ray stopped and sort of burrowed into the sandy the bottom the fish stayed behind and looked like it was feeding off the spot where the ray had stopped . I later learnt that yes indeed the ray would have disturbed things in the sand and and the fish were indeed feeding.

By then I was exhausted and headed back to the zodiac, which served as a signal and the others joined me.

Back for a quick change during which I decided to give the afternoon's short shore excursion a miss and take it easy, which I did and enjoyed (more writing and hair drying). I only missed one bird not seen before, so no harm done.

After time enough for a pre-dinner drink, we joined the crew for a farewell cocktail and some farewell acknowledgements from out tour leader, the crew and one of my fellow travellers. The most amusing point of the 'speeches' was that my team's speaker acknowledged that despite the minimal impact of the language gap between the excellent crew and the travellers, that he was sure that the crew has nicknames for us all - which was greeted by such a giggle from the crew, that we knew it to be true . Its an interesting idea and of course there has been much mirth among the group about our possible nicknames. As one of the crew tidies up our room multiple times per day, and another organises our drinks i am sure they have plenty of laughs at our expense. ��

After a yummy cocktail we were into yet another dinner. Various people packing and getting organised and settling down for another night. Importantly (and for my future updates to my travel blog entries) is that one of the group offered to set up a Dropbox so that we can each share our best photos. For me this is particularly pleasing as I know that the three group members with underwater cameras have some fabulous shots that they will share. :)

One upside of the change of travellers (a standard thing is that people come and go in Wednesday's and Sundays, which coincide with moorings in the 2 main galapagos ports) is that with only 3 new arrivals, I believe that I won't have to share my room from here on . Not that there have been any issues at all in sharing, but paying for twin share and getting single is a bonus. Thanks though to Diane for putting up with me - she has been an excellent roommate.

Oh and a late entry...as a last minute thing a small group got permission to go ashore at about 8.30 and were under strict instructions to be ready for a 10.00 pm pickup (or else swim back - or coping a water taxi). I declined to join them but promised that I would be there to take pics of them when they arrived back. I watched for their arrival and headed down to the deck to greet them, armed with my iPad to take the pics, but noticed a sea lion sitting on the other zodiac which was tied at the other steps. Fortunately I was quick enough to take a video which I hope uploads here ok. I thought it was going to leap off the zodiac but.... see for yourself.

That's it for tonight after another lovely, long day full of highlights.

J

xx