Still on the west coast of Isabela, the first outing of the morning was spent walking on the lava fields of Moreno Point. Of note here were the landscape of course, lava lizards, 3 more flamingos (allegedly, not being marked it was hard to prove these weren't repeat viewings), and most rare of all - other people!! We weren't at all happy sharing our isolated volcanic outcrop with other folk, let me tell you.

Bizarrely, we also spotted a 5 foot white tipped reef shark in a small lagoon, connected to the ocean via a small underground tunnel.

Next we went hunting for seahorses in a snorkelling location. Mission accomplished, along with dozens and dozens of turtles. Bear in mind these things are usually around a metre in length, about a foot away from you, and totally unphased by your presence. Amazing.

After lunch we headed further up the coast to Elizabeth Bay where we went for a ride on the panga. The main goal was to see the Galapagos penguins nesting in the mangrove swamps (which we did - well a couple anyway), but we also saw Eagle Rays, Golden Rays, sea lions and turtles. Turtles were already becoming a bit passé.

Sea lions were wittily renamed "tree lions" as it turns out that they actually 'nest' above the waterline in the mangrove trees in this area. No decent rocks you see.

However the highlight was Darwin managing to steer the panga into an outcrop of lava rock. Pop. Hiss. "What? Really? Oh that's not good."
The thought of sinking into a ray infested swamp was a little disconcerting, however Darwin managed to plug the hole with a bit of cloth and on we went. Genius.