Having disembarked from our boat, the Rumba on Wednesday evening we travelled to the island of Isabela on Thursday accompanied by Guy, Lars and Louise who had also been on the Rumba. We all spent Friday snorkelling in the bay, this included a quite breath taking swim down a very narrow channel (just over shoulder width) which was teeming with sharks, about 30 of them sleeping in the warm water. Being this close to the animals was truly memorable. On Saturday Guy and I joined a group to walk up to the Cero Azul which is a huge volcano which is the 2nd biggest crater in the world, we also walked through a smaller neighbouring volcano. We returned to Santa Cruz on Sunday and spent the day visiting a tortoise sanctuary, climbing through lava tunnels and visiting to large sink holes called Los Germoles, pictures of this and all the other things from the Galapagos are on Flickr.
However these days, and indeed the whole of our Galapagos trip have been overshadowed by events which took place on Friday night. The Rumba, the boat which we had just spent four days on was shipwrecked off the coast of Isabela, one of the passengers who had joined the boat on Thursday morning lost his life leaving a wife and daughter who had also been on the boat. Chance would have it that the remains of the boat were washed up on the beach right outside the hostel we were staying in. Walking through the wreckage of the boat and being able to identify various bits and pieces was a tremendously moving experience, it also demonstrated the power of the sea and the risks that anyone takes when sailing. That said, the Danish man who lost his life had taken no unnecessary risks having booked his cruise in the same way as everyone else who has travelled on that boat, he had happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a terribly sad event which we`ve witnessed and a powerful lesson as to how fickle the hand of fate can be