After an hour sun bathing on the boat we heads back to the mainland. The tour guide taking his motor bike and us following in a small bus. First the motorbike got a flat tyre but lucky he managed to control the bike! Then not much further up the road our bus also got a flat tyre. The second bus arrived made it up to the highlands where we walked just off each side of the road to two massive 'collapses' from it being a volcanic island. Each one looked like a massi...

On the Santa Cruz this research centre is dedicated to the conservation of the giant tortoise. They take the eggs from each island and keep them separate by island to stop crossbreeding of the different types. They typically look after the tortoises until they are 4 (when they have harder shells and no predators) and return them to their respective islands. Some tortoise stay in the centre and become part of their breeding program and research. Lots of little lav...

We pulled up in the dinghy to the main Puerto Ayora to find a sea lion sunbathing on the ramp - we had to walk carefully around him. The water in the bay was clear - we could see fish and turtles swimming around. Along the beach there is a small fish market - a cheeky sea lion and many huge pelicans were up close hoping to get something. Further around many marine iguanas were sunning themselves on the boat ramp and loads of pelicans were sitting in a tree. Even ...

After lunch we sailed back to Santa Cruz Island and we took the dinghy to the shore to 'Cerro Dragon' on the West Coast. Along the beach a pelican was fishing in the water and some marine iguanas (black) were lazily sunbathing on the sand. Not far off by a lagoon the tour guide showed us a popular sleeping spot for those marine iguanas and we saw 2 cuddled up by the lagoon. We then walked half over volcanic looking land - red sand with black rocks, cactus and oth...

Back on the boat we got into some wetsuits and headed out on the dinghy. We drove to the end of the island and snorkelled back towards the boat staying just a few meters away from the rocky shore. There was an abundance of brightly coloured fish, they were all very accommodating and were quite happy for you to float along with their school. We saw loads of razor-surgeonfish (yellow tail), parrot fish, king angelfish (blue fish with orange fins) along with many ot...