Our final activity from the boat was to revisit the Charles Darwin Centre and see the tortoise breeding programme. In fact we did see some things that we had missed on our first visit so it was not pointless. The plant nursery is a resource for islanders to enable them to replant their gardens with native plants. The environment here is finely balanced and introduced species of plants and animals present the greatest threat to that balance. Additionally, many introduced garden plant species only thrive when given disproportionately high amounts of precious water (most islands having no fresh water supplies).



We also found out another twist to the Espanola tortoise saga. It appears that when the tiny number of survivors were taken from the island into the breeding programme a search went out internationally to see if any others were in zoos. In 1977 a single male was identified in San Diego Zoo where he had been living since the 1930s. He was predictably named Diego and transported back to here to play his part in rejuvenating the species. In fact Diego turned out to be significantly more virile than the other two native males who were very lacklustre performers. Now over a half of the species has him as a dad and despite being over 100 years old he consistently continues to do his bit. Go Big Boy!

From the centre we retraced our steps to the airport on Isla Baltra to take our plane to Quito. Also on the flight were Lynelle and Crystal, Australian nurses who were great fun to be with. They are now heading for the jungle (but having second thoughts about going on a boat). Good luck girls!

Just in case some of you may be imagining our boat as a luxury cruise yacht, we need to disabuse you. Although there are many fabulous looking boats around, our 'tourist economy' Princess of Galapagos is not one of these. The agent said that it was basic and it was. It never reached the level of decrepitude of the infamous ‘Friendship’ but had more than its fair share of problems while we were aboard. Some down to the age of the vessel but some others plain mismanagement. In the end though, it was the wildlife and the scenery that we wanted to experience and this was there in spades!