Today is a change over day.

On Wednesdays and Sundays activities are planned around a port - Sunday it is Pureto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal and Wednesday it is Puerto Aora on Santa Cruz . This way passengers can opt for a 4, 3, 7 days or longer time on QB. As a result several of the people who joined the boat with me left today after their 4 night trip, together with those who had been on board for 3 nights when I joined and have just completed their 7 night tour. The couple from New Orleans who joined with are staying on, along with an English couple who are staying a total of 14 nights.

Our standard time wake up call at 6.30 was followed by 7.00 breakfast and a flurry of activity around the transportation of bags for the leavers, passports being organised for travel and heaps of other details. After breakfast there was a short briefing to make sure that everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing (some staying on in San Cristobal, some heading straight home to the UK / Australia and others heading variously to Peru, mainland Ecuador and Chile.

But before it was time for goodbyes we all headed to shore on the zodiacs, hopped onto a bus and after a short ride arrived at the fairly new Interpretation Centre . Here the centre covered a wide range of topics about the Galapagos, including the curious and highly unpredictable mixture of land and sea temperatures / climate that result from the convergence of 5 ocean currents and that even on the equator when the Humbolt current rolls North from the Antarctic in winter, the water temperature can be 5 degrees and the air temp can be 15; the formation on the Galápagos Islands from the volcanic activity at the edge of the tectonic plate and their subduction under the coast of South America as they move eastward; the first people to find the islands which were probably the Incas who were apparently quite seagoing and then Europeans who spread the word and the islands were used by pirates, whalers etc; and the impact of various layers of activities / settlement on the animal life.

As I have mentioned before, there has been a big impact on the 'native' species by domestic / feral animals in particular rats, goats, cars and dogs, to say nothing of the use of turtles for oil and food (sailors liked them because they could go for ages without water and food and then provide fresh meat - they are more transportable than goats), sea lions for their skins and meat, and even to today, the killing of turtles and iguanas by locals for food .

The centre also covered contemporary topics such as the impact and regulation of tourism (a huge topic that of course has the attention of the world), sustainable living (including a ban on plastic on the islands from 2017), coping with the very limited water supply on all but one island and a raft of economic issues, in particular around keeping the money that tourism brings local to preserve what is here. There are many contentious issues under consideration around who is responsible for the preservation process and how to make it sustainable, and of course using the tourism dollar to advantage and educate the Galapaogoeans. I guess this is an issue faced all around the world, not just here, but it is very sobering nevertheless when one compares the extreme wealth of many of the visitors here to the locals who seem to live what seems to me to be a pretty 'no frills', casual existence.

From the centre we had the option of following a series of walks up the nearby hill to take in the view or to a nearby beach . I set out with one of my fellow travellers for the lookout option and he set a cracking pace which meant that I arrived at our high vantage puffing and huffing and puffing. Fortunately it was a great view - looking over the shimmering blue waters with aqua blue / green lapping at the beach below, the distant view of Kicker Rock in one direction and the approach of planes over the port (with many boats bobbing and the coloured buildings of the harbour front) in the other.

From there I headed down the hill to the port for an hour of Internet access, sadly not to upload another chapter of my adventure (mainly because the connection was so slow that it took ages to get a few pics transferred from my camera), but to check how much spam email I needed to delete and to make sure that my bank balances were in the glorious black. One of the joys of a largely pre-paid, all inclusive holiday is that my operating account remains untouched and ready to pay my credit card bill next month I guess . While being in port I also collected some cash from a friendly ATM so that I have enough for my drinks tab, which has to be paid in cash. And not forgetting cash for tips for our guide and crew too.

Oh and a highlight of my time in the port was access to 'food' other than what is put in front of us and I managed to down a white (mmmmmmm) Magnum and an ice cream cone. I had actually thought that the 3 good meals per day regime might be putting on some kgs, but when I put on a fresh pair of (new) pants yesterday that had been a good fit at home, they turned out to be loose enough for me to need a belt to keep them feeling comfortable. Maybe all the snorkelling, walking and a few climbs are better for me than I thought - and when I think about it most of my food on board is a very wide range of vegetables and fruit, with a bit of fish / meat. No sweet hi carbs. The Ecuadorians also eat a lot of rice and potatoes but I am avoiding these.

Back onto the boat to say hello to our mini United Nations new arrivals - 2 from California; a Korean girl with her non-English speaking brother, but she is a pharmacist and lives in Tasmania; A Canadian with his Japanese partner; a Spanish sparking French couple; and another couple from the US . Oh and not to mention our new guide Wilo - he is a genuine Galapagoean.

All that said, the most exciting thing is that with the new arrivals, there are no other single female travellers and I now have my room to myself! Once this was confirmed I had the cupboards and bathroom reorganised. Yay!

We then headed back to port and onto a bus for a 30 minute ride to head over the highlands (a hill really) to a mid-level facility that protects and raises the saddle back tortoises. Wilo filled us in on this sadly depleted sub-species and how a lot is being done to collect, incubate and raise the hatchlings. To be honest this facility was not as impressive as the facility that we visited on my first day here, but the location was in a fairly dry area that is suitable for the tortoises to lay their eggs
rather than their normal grazing habitat. In fact food is brought in for them every few days from the highlands . The pens that the baby tortoises are kept in were pretty basic and I wondered how 'natural' they are, but at the same time assumed that more knowledgable minds than mine were on the job!

Then back to port for 20 mins before the zodiacs arrived and ordering another ice-cream in a shop near the dock earned me some internet access time to quickly check my Facebook (not much happening), back to the boat, time for a shower and be ready for the 6.30 briefing and welcoming cocktail. What was impressive was that when the guests were asked to introduce themselves to the crew, despite the multinational nature of the group and getting the pronunciation of the Anglo Saxon names right, Wilo successfully repeated back all 15 names without blinking an eyelid! My best attempt (no apologies for spelling is ...., Hoy, Beryl, Fred, John, 'Marta, me, Wolf, Patsy, Jerome, ....., Gary, ......, ....... and ........). (An aside added later - is that I did have them down pat in a day or so).

Then dinner, chats and then I headed onto the top deck with a beer to finish today's writing. As I write we are pulling out of port for a 9 hour trip (very long for us) to a spot between the islands of Bartholomew and Santiago - attached see a pic of my lovely view out the back of the boat. It is a beautiful evening and now that I have my solo cabin I will head down and sit outside (Diane had asked for a balcony cabin and it has been very pleasant to leave the door open at night and enjoy the lovely air and sounds of the water and I am grateful to her for how it worked out :) ).

Night.

J

xx