Dad had been dreading the return ferry journey to Santa Cruz ever since we had experienced the rough crossing to reach Isabella. So it did not help when we arrived at the port at the allotted time an hour before departure and no one could find our reservation. We were not alone as Fernanda, a friendly lady travelling from Madrid was also in the same situation.


Minutes passes and people we knew from other tours arrived and subsequently disappeared onto other boats and it was not until ten minutes after the allotted departure time that a woman turned up and acknowledged us . Strangely this did not include Fernanda, whom we had to leave at the port. With six other Ecuadorians we boarded a river taxi and arrived at our launch only to be told that we could not board the vessel until a delayed tour group had arrived. Eventually after a further 30 minutes they arrived, led by a guide whom we had met before and who looked uncannily like George W Bush (dressed in similar desert wartime fatigues). They immediately got on the launch first leaving the eight of us in the poor seats - I was not impressed.


Luckily the seas were not as rough as before and we crossed the straits much more quickly that the outbound journey. The captain was friendly, even slowing down so Dad could use the toilet at the slower speed. When we arrived Puerto Ayora, the town was hidden by black clouds and it was raining as we disembarked into a taxi boat for the short trip to the pier. The Ecuadorians we had travelled with were in a jovial mood, even asking the taxi driver to return to the launch where Dad had left his water bottle (actually his piss pot) floating in the sea . I was not sure they would have returned for the bottle if they knew what he did with it. “Don't lean over the side,” one Ecuadorian said to my father, “I will get it for you”. He then plucked the bottle from the harbour waters and gave it to the smiling and relieved old man.


Unfortunately Gundi had closed Jean’s House whilst she visited her mother in Quito so I had booked some other rooms at the Lava House. All the other accommodation where Jean’s House was located (on that tranquil promontory) was all very expensive ($400+ per day) so we had to move into the main part of town. I had gone to look at the Lava House before we left so I knew it was OK, and when we arrived Isabel the friendly owner said that she unfortunately had some double bookings, so she up graded us in to her luxury rooms. These were very nice modern rooms in a building which despite feeling a little bit like a motel, were extremely comfortable. Any shortcomings (and there were not many), were made up for by Isabel. She was so nice, accommodating and friendly that I immediately felt at home and the disappointment of not returning to Jean’s House soon vanished. Rather bizarrely the issue with the rooms happened because of an international conference. Yes thats right, these fragile, environmentally precious islands which are under threat due to excessive human presence are now hosting major conferences! On Space Science! Some of the delegates were very nice, we met a great lady Anna, originally from Crimea . This illustrated in itself the strange attitude of the Ecuadorian government towards these islands.


Whilst Isabelle at the Lava House was a model of great service, the same could not be said of Albatross Tours on the harbour front. Dad and I had booked our one expensive excursion through this company with a large man (who appeared like the owner) sitting at the door before we left for Isla Isabella. On our return I went to this company and spoke to this man informing him that we were not staying any longer at Jean’s House and as we were in the main town could we have a pick up from the Lava House. Rather than just refuse, the idiot made up a story that he did not know the Lava House, where upon I mentioned I would get the owner to ring him and explain that we were on the main road out of town, 2 kms from his shop and on the bus route. Again he said “I don’t know this Lava House” and a ridiculous back & forth resulted again with him refusing to accept Isabel’s phone call. Of course we had already paid so it was useless. Dad was also perplexed at this idiot making an 79 year old man walk 1 km through Puerto Ayora at 5.45am when a pickup involved no detour for his bus.


As it happened we were the only tourists on the bus who did not have a pick up, plus this idiot had told me the tour involved no snorkelling or swimming just beach walking . So I was the only one who arrived unprepared, but I did manage to get some equipment from the boat, so I was able to snorkel. A ridiculous man.


The trip itself, despite its expense proved to be quite good. Seymour Island (we were recommended) had plenty of Frigates and Boobies plus some Lava Gulls and some great Land Iguanas. The Frigates were the highlight and we managed to get pretty close, so we were able to see the males with the inflatable red throats from just a few feet away. I found this fascinating as this was much closer than I had been before. The huge golden yellow Iguanas were another thrill, intensely territorial they posed happily for us under the giant cacti, next to the paths. Plenty of Finches and Mockingbirds also lined the route around the small island and it was all very interesting. The guide was friendly and knowledgeable and the boat was a real luxury launch complete with private bedrooms and air con living room. They did give us a nice cooked meal as well.


The other travellers were all interesting and for the most part friendly. There was a nice young English girl volunteer, two friendly Germans from Hanover, a Japanese traveller and a family from Arequipa in Peru, whose son was a photographer. I certainly had some interesting conversations with them .


On our return from Seymour we were being ferried to the launch in a small rubber boat when the Japanese girl noticed several large sharks circling the dingy. The sharks (much larger than the white tips we swam with a few days before) were Galapagos sharks and appeared to be well over two meters in length. In the green blue colour water they were clearly visible just under the surface and occasionally their fins broke the surface - Jaws style (a great personal thrill). We were told that despite their size they are harmless, yet I could not persuade Dad to go snorkelling with them.


We eventually set off to cruise thirty minutes or so back to Santa Cruz island to a beautiful isolated sandy beach, here we had our beach walk and our swim. As it turned out there was hardly anything to see under the water except a solitary marine iguana who was very fast, so the beach walk was somewhat better. At the far end of the beach we visited a lagoon with some more Galapagos Flamingos. Soon we were back on the boat and then travelling across Santa Cruz by bus back to Puerto Ayora.


Back at the Lava House Dad and I visited Il Gardino Restaurant in town for a seafood meal. Whilst this restaurant was expensive and did not add all the additional extras (like the tax) onto the menu, the food was really good. The fresh tuna sourced from the chaotic market opposite could not have been better and was served up in a variety of ways. All in all it was great.


The following day was our final day in the Galapagos and after breakfast I decided to walk the eight kilometres to Tortuga Bay. This bay had been recommended to us as a great visit by many of the our tourists we had met on the islands with plenty of animals and birds on the islands plus the most beautiful beach. The walk was interesting enough and on the way I managed to locate a lagoon in Puerto Ayora which Sirco had recommended to see Frigates bathing. This bathing spectacle may well have happened at this lagoon several years ago but the criss crossing telephone and electric lines over the lagoon prevented this now. This rather summed up the island experience. It was obvious the amount of humans living on the islands (no doubt aided by the numbers of visitors) were destroying the environment and the animals. It was exceptionally bad in the two towns we visited where an ordinary day would be spent listening to guides lecturing tourists about “how not to litter and damage the environment” and then in the evening witnessing (like my last night on Santa Cruz) two local men dump an old washing machine. Unfortunately this lagoon was full of litter, but yet by now on my last day this was hardly a surprise.


After walking around the lagoon, I walked back to the pathway leading to Tortuga Bay. After the National Park checkpoint there was some more litter, cats and chickens wandering around. However the Finches were still glorious. I wandered along towards the bay wondering how long this environment will survive. At the bay, many surfers were on the beach waiting for the surf to swell. One went to the toilet in the turtle nesting area, a restricted area. He was too far way for me to say anything, but again he was most certainly a local. By the time I reached the headland the weather had turned again and it started to rain and the light faded. The small bay at the top was though still beautiful and full of sunbathing and swimming locals as it was a Sunday.


I wandered around the lava flows watching the finches and admiring the cacti, several Pelicans were fishing and I watched them for a long time getting some good snaps. The marine iguanas were also interesting, but again the amount of discarded rubbish was very sad. Eventually I returned back to Puerto Ayora, found Dad and headed off for the final supper.


The next morning we packed in the rain, hailed our favourite taxi and headed off to the airport. I will have mixed memories of the Galapagos. On the plus side Gundi’s hospitality was fabulous as were the other two places we stayed. My experiences with the tortoises, finches, fly catcher and everything in the water will stay with me for a long time. But you just had the feeling that this obsession with the tourist dollar will eventually kill the place. The number and attitude of many of the mainland immigrants was very worrying. The store holders had closed the Darwin Foundation’s Souvenir Shop (they felt it was competition) depriving the major and the island’s most important NGO of one of its most sources of funding, meanwhile (we were informed) that the president’s sister will start construction on a new large 5 star hotel next year. Finally I was constantly wondering where the revenue from the 200,000 international visitors each paying the $100 entrance fee was going…..


We arrived in Guayaquil in the early evening and met David and Chaby as planned for dinner. I hope to be seeing David in Europe this summer. The following day we were back in cold misty Lima, awaiting the final leg of this trip - Chachapoyas.