We hit the most westerly island this morning to see the famous marine iguanas. The salt-sneezing dragons were there in their thousands. They camouflage in with the volcanic rocks so well it really was a miracle none of us trod on one at some point. The first real disappointment of the trip came on the snorkelling trip afterwards - not one of the thousands of the beasts decided it was hungry and so we didn't see any in the water at all. Small comfort came from a ...

This morning saw a trip to Urbina Bay, notable in the main for two things - a healthy population of land iguanas and until 1952 it was 10m under water. A volcanic eruption put pay to that. A Disney film crew happened to be in the area at the time and shot a video showing sharks and other sea creatures flapping around on dry land, but this can only be seen in the Charles Darwin Centre on Santa Cruz Island, so we missed that. If anyone can find it on YouTube... So...

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 ...

Overnight we cruised in far more calm conditions to the largest of the Galapagos islands, Isabela. Despite it being somewhat overcast, the ever optimistic Darwin suggested we stick with the plan for the morning, which was to hike to the rim of the 10km wide caldera of Sierra Negra volcano. The ever optimistic group agreed. A bone shaking bus journey later we were ready, rain coats and wellies donned, chilly mist present and correct. However, half an hour of walk...

After an overnight cruise to Floreana Island - and very little sleep for anyone due to not having gained our sea legs yet - we hit Cormorant Point. No cormorants, but the first sighting of the famous Blue Footed Boobie was had. No infantile jokes made of course. Ahem. What else did we see? Sea lions on the beach - it's amazing how quickly you get used to the fact you are a couple of feet away from them (sorry, I mean a couple of metres, Mr Galapagos Policeman)....