After our cruise finished we had to think for ourselves again - we no longer had a whiteboard telling us things like when to eat and what shoes to wear. But joking aside we were very sad and hoped that our remaining time on the islands would bear some resemblance to our first week.

After we had checked into our hostel in Puerto Ayora we caught a taxi into the highlands to see the giant tortoises. They were so big that we could fit inside their shells (see picture)! It was great to see them roaming freely at this private reserve and I think it was one of our highlights of the Galápagos. Once back in town we headed to the beautiful long sandy beaches of Turtle bay. It took us the rest of the afternoon to slowly walk the length of them and were amazed to bump into a New Zealand couple that we had been on the San Blas trip with over two months ago. That evening we went out looking for the famed Lonesome George burger (a burger made to look like a tortoise) but like our friends before us were left disappointed when we found the fast food joint was closed. A coconut shrimp dish and a beer eased the disappointment.

The next day after a morning of internetting and browsing the many Galápagos souvenir shops we took a bumpy 2 hour speed boat ride to the island of Isabela. The inside of this boat was set in a bar lounge style with blue dolphin shaped semitransparent windows that gave a slightly dodgy club feel. We were also surprised by the extra costs on top of the ticket - a water taxi at each end to get on and off the boat and a harbour tax at the other end. Because of these we decided to walk the 15 minutes into town and found a very quiet place with not a single paved road - we quite liked it. Although the emptiness did get a bit annoying over the next few days as we found it difficult to book a tour, rent bikes and buy a variety of food for self catering. We think it was so quiet because of the national holidays on at the time: the day of the dead and Cuenca independence day. The former though did brighten up the town's graveyard with flower displays. As well as having no paved roads, Isabela has no fresh water so all water is imported and therefore everywhere has salt water showers (although we think they are diluted down). Thankfully this isn't as bad as we expected and in fact didn't seem to make a difference to our level of hygiene - maybe we're too far gone in this respect. Anyway we got a place to stay at our first choice hostel and had a two storey cabin in a garden with hammocks. After a cheap (but basic) dinner, Katy went to bed very early.

The next morning we rented some bikes and rode into the national park to the Wall of Tears. The massive wall was built by convicts in the 50s out of lava rocks and in the heat that we cycled there in the work must have been brutal. Its massive over sizing was just to give the convicts something to do and the wall actually served no purpose - many of the workers died due to the work. Off the road to the wall were many things to explore such as lagoons, beaches, lava tunnels and look outs so the return trip ended up taking us 3 hours which was a long time in the strong sun. On the ride we spotted iguanas, blue footed boobies, lava lizards, mockingbirds, crabs, pelicans and a heron but couldn't spot any tortoises despite other people seeing them. When we returned back to our cabin we found that we had been downsized as a family of four wanted our place. So all our stuff had already been moved to a single storey cabin - I hadn't even been upstairs in the last one but I was still disappointed. In the afternoon we checked out the town's flamingo population in the lagoon and found a beach bar and got some drinks just in time for sunset. We (and some others in the bar) had a giggle and also felt embarrassed when a middle aged German woman paid a local lady a dollar to take a photo of her child playing in the sand. The modern looking Ecuadorian family were probably just on holiday in the Galápagos as well.

On Cuenca independence day we walked to the tortoise breeding centre 30 minutes out of town. We were surprised to see hundreds of baby and juvenile tortoises - this centre was much bigger than the one on Santa Cruz. The centre also had some adults for breeding obviously. We learnt that tortoises can't hatch in the wild anymore because introduced species such as rats and pigs eat all the eggs. It's worth a thought that even in the Galápagos where 97% of the land is national park humans still make an irreversible impact. I was so sad to leave the centre knowing that it was probably the last time I would ever see a Galápagos tortoise. In the afternoon we walked the other way out of town to the docks to watch penguins swimming. We also saw the usual suspects; sea lions, iguanas, blue footed boobies, lava lizards, crabs and pelicans.

On our final full day on the islands we went on a morning snorkelling tour to an area called the tunnels. We snorkelled in two different areas (one shallow and one deep) and also took a short walk over the roofs of the tunnels. Of note in addition to the usual suspects we spotted turtles (lots of), white tipped sharks, pufferfish, octopus, sea horses, fur seal, yellow star fish with black spikes, lobster, sea urchin (and got to hold this non poisonous type), penguins, eagle ray and a manta ray (can grow up to 7m across). Snorkelling in the shallows with the man sized sharks was scary and we also got to see them in a flooded lava tunnel, which was scary when I poked my head in and saw 4 of them looking back at me. In the afternoon we headed back to the docks for more wildlife watching and enjoyed seeing the sea lions play. One of them chased a penguin and another group were having so much fun that they didn't seem to notice when they accidentally body slammed into the some lava rocks.

To get to the airport the next day we had to catch the 6am speed boat, which meant a 4:45am alarm, a taxi, a barge across the channel to the airport island and then finally a bus to the terminal. But during this painful process we saw a beautiful sun rise and our favourites: sea lions at the docks, for Katy, and a tortoise just walking next to the road as we left town for me.

So that was it our time in the Galápagos was over and Katy literally shed a little tear (I was also close). But now when people ask us where our favourite place has been we won't need to hesitate - we'll both say the Galápagos!

Simon