On Sunday October 21st we transferred to the MY Sea Star, where we had upper deck cabins for 4 luxurious nights! Just we four and six other couples, the boat is pretty palatial. Up top are many lounging seats, a spa, a clothes dryer for our use, kayaks etc and circling above us, scores of frigate birds, red wattle half inflated, close enough to see clearly against the stunning blue skies.

Ted wrote:

'We were up early at Finch Bay eco lodge and had 1.5 hours in the van to meet our boat people who collected us and others off planes arriving and by 11am we were on our very nice boat. 12 others on board ... 4 from England 2 from Netherlands and 6 from the States. It's now 5pm and we've had a 2 hour excursion till 4pm, back to the boat for refreshments and we are now cruising for 2 hours to get to our overnight stop location.'

That afternoon we walked on Santa Cruz island to a lagoon, and where several large orange and brown land iguanas live. But first, the smaller marine iguanas, who feed on seaweed, and the bright red and orange Sally Lightfoot crabs scuttled all over the black lava rocks and scoria covered in red vegetation, making for gorgeous pictures.

Cerro Dragon, Santa Cruz Island.

The north shore of Santa Cruz hosts Cerro Dragon (Dragon Hill). We made a dry landing for a walk that included a brackish water lagoon frequented by greater flamingoes, common stilts, pintail ducks and a variety of shore and lagoon birds. Head to Dragon Hill, where there are beautiful views of the bay and the western area of the archipelago. This area is a natural nesting site of a fairly large number of land iguanas, which is constantly monitored and assisted by the Charles Darwin Research Station. The arid-zone vegetation is great for bird watching, where Darwin's finches, Galapagos mockingbirds, endemic Galapagos flycatchers, and yellow warblers are regular sightings.