In order to write these blog entries I refer back to my journal and the photos on my camera to jog my memory. You would think this would work really well, and indeed it would if I actually wrote in my journal every day. The actual sequence of events is more like 'oh s**t' I've forgotten to write in my journal (a whole week was my worst case) followed then by looking at my photos and looking at my itinerary and basically making stuff up. I have decided that writing a journal while you are travelling is a lovely romantic notion, but quite hard work if this is not something you would normally do at home. And so to write up Quito (capital of Ecuador) and the Galapagos Islands. My journal entry for arriving in Quito is 'flew to Quito arrived 5pm ordered room service and watched tv'. Do not judge me..... I did explore the Old Town the next day ; ) Met my new group of travellers, then we flew to Baltra one of the smaller of 13 Galapagos islands. They are located about 1000km off the coast of Ecuador. We caught a local bus to a dock, then a quick ferry ride followed to Santa Cruz island. Our boat was docked on the far side of the island which took about 40 minutes in a minibus, and as we drove through the highlands we saw wild giant tortoises in the fields. They just roam around freely - at first sight you just think a large grey boulder is sitting in a field and then you realise what it is, it was pretty incredible. Arriving in Puerto Ayora, we took motorised dinghies out to our home for the next 5 days - a boat not very imaginatively named G4 ( the tour company is called G Adventures so they obviously thought long and hard what to call their fleet - yes there is indeed a G1,2 etc). The cabins were quite nice and had an ensuite shower and toilet. Mine was below deck, which turned out to be pretty noisy because of the engine noise, but those who had paid a supplement to have cabins above deck had more problems with the exaggerated movement of the boat. So I think it was a plus not feeling like I was rolling out of bed all the time. We got the dinghies back to Puerto Ayora and walked to The Charles Darwin research station. Here we saw a few of the remaining species of giant tortoises. Unfortunately, due to previous tourists abusing the rules, we were no longer allowed in the enclosures with them. This was fine but my photos really do not show just how big they are without a human point of reference. Believe me they are huge, and surprisingly agile too. We walked back to the port in time to see some local fishermen preparing and selling their catch off the edge of the harbour. Seeing birds swooping around was pretty normal, but the sea lion and pelican begging for scraps was an unexpected surprise! The next morning found us at a new island named after its shape - Chinese Hat. The sea was turquoise blue and we were really lucky to see a group of over 20 penguins swimming along. Normally only a few were seen, and our guide was thrilled as this was pretty much the whole known population of that area. We went ashore onto a tiny beach, only disturbed by bird prints and a perfectly preserved turtle track where the female had made her way up the beach to bury her eggs. There were hundreds the most beautiful red crabs on the rocks, bizarrely they are called Sally Lightfoot after a famous dancer. A walk round the volcanic island followed as did sightings of sea lions, iguanas and many birds. Back to the boat to change for snorkelling. Not having had too much male attention so far, you would have laughed as 2 very nice crewmen both assisted me in pulling on a very tight wetsuit and despite my misgivings then declared it was a perfect fit. ' But I can't lift my arms up' just seemed to make them laugh more! Anyway once in the water all was forgotten as we saw sharks, rays, penguins and marine iguanas which swim underwater and eat algae off the rocks. Quite breathtaking. An already I credible day was topped off with turtle porn! Yes that's right. We paddled around the mangroves and followed mating turtles desperately trying to get a good photo ( us not the turtles). In the turtle world a lady turtle (lady used wry loosely here) mates with up to 5 male turtles a day. The next in line just swims around until the previous guy drops off, and then he hops on. It all looked quite quite tiring, they would disappear under water for a bit then come up gasping. We all felt a bit voyeuristic ; ) Next day we visited Cerro Dragón famous for its land iguanas which had really bright yellow heads and were everywhere. You really try to keep your distance then nearly step on another one whilst trying to do so. Flamingoes also live here though in quite small numbers. Back on board we sailed to and around Daphne Island to see blue footed boobies. Lots of 'I love boobies' jokes abounded as you can imagine. Another day another island. This time South Plaza, an incredible vista of giant cacti, red seaweed like plants and another species of land iguanas. Just beautiful. Sailing on we reached Santa Fe where we snorkelled again. Rather pleasingly I had now mastered the art of my ultra tight wetsuit and was now avoiding public hilarity by putting it on in my cabin. Then I Swam With Sea Lions. It was AMAZING. They just jumped in the water and started to swim around us, they are the most graceful creatures. The young ones swim up and blow bubbles at you. I also saw an incredible formation of 8 eagle rays, two large ones in the middle surrounded by 6 smaller ones. Another wow moment. The afternoon was a walk around Santa Fe. The island is covered in sea lions and we spent a lot of time just sitting on the beach surrounded by them and just enjoying the privilege of being an observer. They have no fear of humans at all so just behave completely naturally. A real once in a lifetime moment. Last day - we sailed to San Cristobel island to visit the Interpretation Centre which gave us the history of the islands and their plans to get a balance between tourist growth and the continued protection of this incredible place. A truly amazing week with a great bunch of people, a true highlight of my tour.