Another early start as we disembark at 7.00am for the National Park Tortoise Breeding Centre. They have all of the different Galapagos tortoises from the different islands. They collect the eggs after they breed to ensure that they will not be an endangered species. There are different stages of the tortoises and once they get to a particular age they put them through boot camp. This is where they make the terrain really rough so they can be prepared for if they fall over onto their back they must learn to roll over otherwise they will stay upside down and die.   This centre here also looks after a breeding program for the land iguanas, these are the yellow, red and brown coloured ones. The Charles Darwin Research Station is located here and there are many different counties who have contributed to research different animals in the Galapagos.

After this we head off to the shops for a look around at our own leisure .

Lunch at a nice place along the way and then off to see Galapagos Tortoises in the wild. This is a very lucky farmer who just happens to be in the migratory route of these giant Galapagos tortoises. You get to put on rubber boots and walk around paddocks looking for them. This walk is approx. 800m.   Naturally you have to look out for the land mines (tortoise poop), there is plenty of it too. Lucky we are wearing knee high rubber boots. Just joking, it's not that deep! You never have to go very far as they are everywhere as you can see from some of the pictures in this section. After an hour or two we are back on the bus to town for another little look around but not until we have a short stop to a lava tube to see how the lava would have moved through the underground earth. The town is not very big but we feel very safe and then it is time to jump onto the zodiac to return to the ship. By this time it is already 5.00pm. Wow, it’s a bit rough in this little harbour we are bouncing around in the zodiacs. We always have a recap of the days outing and then a review of tomorrow’s adventure in store before dinner.

Tonight the ship has brought on board some musicians and dancers. The play traditional music and the costumes are colourful.