It was a bit rough during the night, especially for the first couple of hours after we set sail but we all made it in one piece to Floreana. After breakfast we took the dinghies to Cormorant Point, landing on beach with brown sand and green olivine crystals. A couple of sealions were on the beach but too lazy to be disturbed from their sleep. We saw our first baby blue-footed boobie, sitting on the top of the dune.

Walking off the beach, we headed towards a lagoon which finally had more than one flamingo. The lagoon's water level must have receded a bit because there was some pretty squelchy, smelly mud by the edge.

We walked over the headland to a white sand beach. There were tracks made by turtles up to the nesting area. Down in the surf, there were some small rays.

Afterwards, we were taken to Devil's Crown for snorkeling, a collapsed sea volcano with the hope of some sharks. It was a bit rough and there was a vicious current running round the rocks but this is what the big pelagics like. After jumping in the water, we started to make our way round the 'Crown' anti-clockwise. Everyone stuck close to the rocks but David moved out into the deeper water and round an outlying pinnacle. As David thought, if they were going to be somewhere it would be in deeper water... 7 large white tip reef sharks were resting 15 metres down at the bottom of the pinnacle. By the time the rest of the group came over, 2 of them woke up and had a bit of a swim around checking out the newcomers from a distance. There were also big groups of reef fish, barracuda, angel fish and parrot fish. We made our way round three quarters of the rock before the current got too strong. The dinghies picked us up and dropped us off to drift back to where we were picked up.

It was a short sail on the boat to Postoffice Bay to check the mail. There is a barrel in which mail (now mainly post cards) is left without postage stamps. The original idea was, and still is, that people passing through would check to see if there was mail for anyone close to where they lived or to where they were travelling next, they would then hand deliver the mail. There was nothing for New Zealand, Scotland or Finland.

A little further inland was the ruins of an old fish canning factory. The free postal service survived much better than the commercial operation.

Back on the boat, we set sail to Puerto Ayora, about 4 hours away. The journey was a bit rough but we managed to stay on the sun deck for the duration. We possibly saw albatross on the way but couldn't guarantee it.

We arrived to a very busy harbour with lots of boat traffic and were given just over 2 hours on land. Along with Xavier, we spent the time looking for a good company to dive with and accommodation for the remaining of our stay in Galapagos. Despite the numerous dive companies, we selected one quite quick and booked accommodation for the tomorrow night.

We had half an hour to kill before being ferried back to the boat so we looked for a bar. The first one we came across was packed with the rest of our boat... perhaps it was because it was Happy Hour. We joined the group and ordered some cheap beer and Mojitos.

The crew had prepared a special Farewell Dinner and set up a table with carved fruit decorations and a cake. Dressed in their white uniforms, the crew gave a speech and we toasted with a cocktail.

All bar one of the crew were given 2 hours off to go ashore after dinner. A few of us sat around drinking and talking about the week we just had. It turned out to be a late night for us, we went to bed at 9.30pm! With a few extra drinks inside us, we figured we might not hear the boat engine start at 2am for the sailing towards North Seymour.