Well, at the ' next day briefing' last night, I could tell that this day was going to be a complete washout for people who do not enjoy water sports. There was to be a 6am breakfast, then a steep uphill walk for two hours which I think is probably not for me, especially as my feet are slightly swollen. After that, the whole morning is set aside for deep water snorkelling and kayaking, oh yes and jumping off the ship.

Then we will have lunch, reposition the ship in another bay and have a panga ride and more bloody snorkeling. So as I say a complete write off. 

I decided to miss breakfast and have a bit of a lie in  - until 6am! When my wake up call came at 5.45 and I told Marie that I was not partaking of breakfast, she seemed a bit put out. My legs and joints will welcome a bit of a rest and the trail has been described as steep, so common sense prevails.

I didn't want to stay in bed too long as there is no lock on the cabin door and also no  'do not disturb'  sign, and there was no way of telling the crew that I was still sleeping. So it was a leisurely shower and hair wash whilst the others were eating and I surfaced just as they were all climbing aboard the panga.

Watching from the deck I could see that they took a trip along one edge of the bay. There are no beaches here, because the rock has not had a chance to be broken down to form any flat, sandy area. Later on, I learned that they had seen a lot of boobies, crabs and fish, sprinkled with a few sea lions and penguins, so I didn't really miss anything I hadn't already seen.

I watched through my binoculars as they started the trail upwards and it really did look too steep for my knees to cope with after the battering they received yesterday!

So here I am onboard with Sue and Madon. They are lovely ladies but unfortunately what I need today is someone with a wicked sense of humour and they are few and far between! . I found out that Sue runs a dog rescue centre at her farm/small holding in the wilds of Worcestershire. I think a lot of the expenses are covered by her and Mike, including the vets bills, so it really is a labour of love and I really admire them for doing it. All dogs really want is a loving, forever home, heat, food and a bit of comfort, which they all richly deserve.
 
Today will be Top Up Your Tan Day, I have decided. Unfortunately they have just put up the awning so I am sat here in the shade but there are a couple of dekkies on the deck over the bridge so I may pop up there in a moment for a spot of Kindle-ing.

It was a bit of a better morning really because Liza decided to go out on the walk. After doing a short war dance, Sue, Mido and I settled down to do some wildlife spotting. Sue has eyes like a hawk and can spot wildlife from miles away. There were quite a lot of rays that seem to like to go round in pairs. The golden rays are a beautiful golden brown, hence the name. We also saw some mantas which were bigger.

The intrepid trekkers returned and had about 10 minutes before everyone was hauled off for deep water snorkelling. Although the bay was calm it was extremely deep and naturally not for me. Also there appeared to be a bit of a swell building and the waves were smashing against the rocks which was where you find most of the fish. This cove is surrounded by steep cliffs and you can see where there have been landslips. Anyway, it doesn't seem that I missed anything vital and my left foot which had swollen up a bit has benefited from the rest and seemed to be more of a normal size..

Next up was jumping off the boat and kayaking, also, funnily enough, not for me!

Graham and Hebe went out kayaking though and managed to get around OK without capsizing. They looked as though they had done it before.

Lunch included calamari but there was also a beef stew for the non finny eaters, thank goodness. Brian finally got his rice pudding that he had been harping on about since we boarded. In fact he got three, as Hebe and I thought it was hideously sweet, and it was heavily cinnamoned and chilled, more like the Turkish rice pudding.

As lunch was progressing we set sail, literally, they were up again as well as the engines as the plan was to reach the next bay in time for more snorkelling and then a panga ride.

Guess who asked Mike what the sails were for and why they were up?? Yep, our old friend, Liza the Airhead.

 I was getting a bit fed up by now! This day had not been planned for non swimmers at all......

However the panga ride was another story altogether. Good old Galapagos, saving the best until last.

We bounced through the waves to observe the cliff life. First off the Nazca Boobie, a beautiful large elegant bird, white with black markings. Obviously I'm not too good at birds but I thought it was beautiful. We saw loads of marine iguanas, all lined up facing the sun, like sentinels on the cliff tops.

The waves were really getting up by now and crashing up on shore. The panga was coping well though, we didn't lose anyone!

We saw a whole colony of fur seals, although they are not seals but sea lions, as previously explained sea lions have small external ears, seals don't. They are smaller than the common sea lions and these were very playful. They slithered down a rock slide and dived in, then they proceeded to show off. They jumped out of the water, performing twists and turns before diving back in. Then a little face would pop up to make sure we had enjoyed the show! Absolutely charming!

I managed to get a great photo of a blue footed boobie who was perched inside a cave. The expression on his face is priceless!

This was a great end to what earlier, was a very boring day. Dinner was fish again, it must be the fourth time. I have been very good though and eaten up like a good girl. 

We crossed the equator today at 19.20 .... 0 degrees 0 minutes and 0 seconds. So we were briefly back in the northern hemisphere. We crossed back over in the small wee hours after we had rounded the tip of northern Isabela on our way to Santiago Island.


Just a footnote - I have discovered that the phantom flipper thief is actually Doctor Michelle from the US who decided mine were a better option than her original ones!! Mind you, she has made a hell of a lot more use of them than I would have done .... but it would have been nice to have been asked first, wouldn't it??