Well, the 7-8 hour trip which Wilo had promised might be a bit rough - wasn't, so after an excellent nights sleep in my now solo, well organised room I woke to a lovely view of Pinnacle Rock (see pic) out my window, part of Isla Bartholomew, which is right next door to Isla Santiago. This means that we can see parts of both islands without the boat moving. The top of the hill in the pic out my window was one of our destinations for today.

So breakfast done, we left the boat for a dry (though not at all calm conditions) onto Bartholomew . On the way we saw several penguins sitting on the rocks, close by a blue footed boobie who took no notice of us all. We then set out on a boardwalk / steps (approx 380) to the top of a largish hill (see pics looking down the various parts of the steps which we climbed). At points along the way we heard about the volcanic activity of the Galápagos Islands, with about 6 islands having active volcanos now, and saw plenty of evidence of volcanic eruptions here - cinder cones, lava tubes, lava flows, heaps of ash and beaches made of broken down volcanic rocks.

From the top not only was there a magnificent view of the bay next to Bartholomew, but also looking across Santiago it was easy to see volcanic structures, the lava flow on Santiago and a remnant crater in the bay 380 steps below - see my pics (including of the path / steps, me with the view and the view looking out - I am of course happy to tell more to anyone interested - with the rest of my many snaps LOLA) but due to my very amateur photographer status they don't do it all justice .

When the group gathered to hear more from Wilo he pointed out that in the distance it is possible to see about 6 Galápagos Islands from this vantage point - not realising this I hadn't focused on the far distant view - which goes to show one of the benefits of touring with a guide / trained naturalist. He also talked at length about the formation of the island, that the ones to the west, closest to the edge of where the Nasta tectonic plate joins the pacific one, are the newest and most active volcanoes. He rattled off a series of dates of eruptions, the most recent being only a few years back. We also noticed a few 'pioneer plants' growing in the rocks - a small, stunted cactus and another small, spindly plant. There are currently 6 active volcanoes in the Galapagos, based on the definition of their giving out gaseous emissions - but none are anticipated to erupt this week, for which I am very grateful.

After a bit of a photographic session we headed back to our wobbly dry landing site and once we were back on the zodiacs Wilo announced that he had a surprise for us and we were dropped off at the nearby beach and instructed to follow Wilo over the sand dunes to the beach on the other side of the headland that we could see from the 300 ++ step vantage point . Because we had seen some fresh turtle tracks on the beach from a female turtle coming in to lay her eggs during the night, some of us thought that it might be something to do with a turtle.

So we went up through the very hot sand dunes, which were actually a problem because we had left our shoes on the zodiacs, but found no turtles. What we did find was 5 reef sharks frolicking in the shadows. I took heaps of photos in an attempt to catch a few of them. My best pics are attached. We watched them for 10 mins or so and they did not seem inclined to move on despite most of us standing in the shallows, so we agreed that it was a good spot of Wilo's from the top of the hill! I guess it goes to show how clear the water is.

Next we went back to the boat for a quick change into our snorkelling gear and headed to one side of Pinnacle Rock to swim around it and hopefully see some good things and we were not disappointed when we saw a shark, several penguins and of course masses of fish, sea stars and sea urchins . I continue to be amazed by the ubiquitous masses of fish - schools of beautiful large and small schools of many different fish - including some huge schools of sardine sized ones. There also lots of solitary large fish, including a beautiful pastel rainbow coloured one. My favourite. I will find out its name.

However, over time the waves were a bit excessive at this spot and the visibility wasn't good, so we clambered back onto the zodiacs (I am getting better at this, though my left foot flipper never wants to come off) and off to another spot around the coast. This was better, but too soon it was lunchtime.

Those of you who are experience divers / snorkelers / surfers will understand the effort it takes to put on and take off a full wetsuit, so you will feel my pain each time I say we got ready to snorkel and then came back for lunch (gear off) and then about an hour later headed off again (gear on). Fortunately there is a great system on the QB for stowing snorkelling gear and having wetsuits hanging ready to go . Our flippers, goggles and snorkels are stored in a mesh bag with our room number on it. Each bag has a drawstring and strap for ease of carrying and when we get back onto the zodiac when we finish a session in the water we bag our gear - swapping bags with people in the other zodiac if need be to ensure that when we hop onto the boat all is organised. The crew are fantastic in this regard, the cook and other crew who are always multitasking are promptly ready to help us onto the boat on arrival, and as several of the crew know my name my gear is often taken from me and stowed in a blink of an eye - just goes to show what a few smiles and consistent 'thank you's achieves :) (or maybe the feel a need to look after this solitary old duck - doesn't matter, it's all good).

So... Lunch and then another snorkelling session, also with a move half way through to find better conditions. Which we did ... with a couple of frolicking sea lions as well as the fish and invertebrates mentioned before . Back to the boat feeling exhausted.

Showers and a quick battery recharge before heading off again for a dry landing onto a lava flow on Santiago, which we had seen from the lookout and from the water as we snorkelled past it.

What we walked across was a 5km lava flow that is about 150 years old and was absolutely amazing. My photos won't do it justice and there probably isn't much to say other than it is a type of lava called pap Hoi Hoi (which is probably not spelt I like this) which dips, twists etc and is shaped into all sorts of twisty, bent and ropey structures, a bit like cake mix or whipped cream if you run a spoon through it. As well as the gazillion surface shapes and twists, this flow has also been subject to uplifts and in some places massive, cracks. This means that as well as seeing the surface cracks, the uplifted areas where we could see beneath the surface were a wide range of colours and quite beautiful layers of colours - my pics may show this if I am lucky .

We walked across this immense flow for about a km (yes it was hot, rough and in places difficult) until we could walk off it onto a hill made of totally different coloured (brown) ash and small rocks which was from an earlier eruption from the same volcano - under different conditions (if you are interested this brown hill is visible in the background of my long view pic of this lava flow). From there we had the long trek back to the shore where there were many of the 'Sally Lightfoot' crabs that can be seen on all the rocky Galapagos shores - not sure whether I have mentioned before but these crabs were given the name because the way they dance across the rocks is said to be like the dance of a whore by the same name who lived in one of the ports frequented by the Pirates who came to these islands in search of food (turtles in particular) and water.

Then a short trip in the zodiacs back to the QB, via a spin past the rocky cliffs to hopefully spot some Galapagos (very small) penguins. We were fortunately successful thanks to the good spotting of our driver - see pic.

A briefing on tomorrow's activities included Wilo sharing with us a short movie that he had prepared on another group's Galapagos adventure - it was highly creative and he promised us one of our few days with him, which answered the question in my head about why he kept taking snaps of the group. This was of course followed by dinner and for me, writing and reflection to the tunes in my iPod in preparation for my last full day here.