Day five of our trip was change-over day on the boat so we remained moored off San Cristobal. Half of the passengers had already done the other half of the trip so they were leaving with another group joining the boat at this point. We made a short trip around a visitor centre about the history of the islands and then said our farewells to all except Sally & Joff who had both mysteriously disappeared. In a very small town it was hard to believe we couldn't find them. Maybe they had decided to jump ship and stay forever? (Actually they had made their own way to the airport, a short walk away, but that’s not such a romantic story.)

Later we went to the bay called La Loboria ('place of sea lions’). From this deserted sandy beach we were able to snorkel and within minutes had seen turtles and a ray. Unfortunately our next sighting was of a huge shoal of teenagers who also seem to be on a similar tour of the Galapagos. They descended very noisily on to the beach and into the water and the rest of the wildlife rapidly and very wisely disappeared.




At this stage we were reminded of why we try to avoid organised tours as we were required to stay on the beach with all these extremely noisy kids until our alloted departure time! There are very strict rules about where you can and cannot go on the Galapagos, and our guide then puts further limits on where we are allowed to go in order not to lose anyone. This does make us feel rather confined at times! Oh to be able to wander further down the beach than the black rocks. Anyhow, we survived the kids and made our way back to the boat.