Got delayed in Houston. Oh well.

Arrived late in the day from Houston and proceeded to hotel. Decided to have dinner there and had what was to be the first (of many) side dishes of popcorn. What a great idea.

Sunday. San Cristobal

After boarding boat (our luggage already in our cabin) we unpacked and meet the other guests and had a great lunch. Then off on our first excursion to a giant tortoise breeding facility. Here we saw both mature tortoises and hatchlings. On the pier where we landed, there were many sea lions just hanging out on abandoned …

Monday. Genovesa

Early rise and early out to be first on the island. We took the Prince Phillip steps to the top where we were greeted by all kinds of birds. This was as our first encounter with animals up close and it was amazing to see them up close and unafraid of humans. The frigate birds were mating (trying to at least) so the males had …

Tuesday

Up at 7:00 A.M. Breakfast then ready in pangas by 8 am for a wet landing on a sandy beach. We walked a short distance to brackish lagoon and saw 8 pink flamingos. We watched them for a bit and just enjoyed the scenery and got to know everyone a bit better. Then we headed back to the beach to snorkel. Saw marine iguanas and sally light …

The trip to Fernandina took all night. Our first excursion of the day was to the island via panga landing on lava rocks (very slippery...always listen to your guide when they suggest what shoes to wear) and greeted by marine iguanas and sea lions. This is a very large lava field where hundreds of iguanas and crabs live. There were many sea …

Urbina Bay
We took the panga and had a wet lnding on a black sandy beach. We took a nice long hike on sandy and rocky trail. This is where we got to see at least 10 giant tortoises and as many or more land iguanas. The area we were walking on was underwater 50 years ago but volcanic uprising made lifted it out of the water. How cool is that? …

Great coastline with rocky lava formations and crashing surf which created huge geysers at times some of the formations were natural bridges and passage ways. On area is called Darwin's toilet which is a round deep crevice and when the sea water rushes in and out...well it swirls like a toilet! Saw lots of marine iguanas, sally light foot crabs …

We took a bus to the highlands to see a unique sunken volcano formation and then to the Charles Darwin Research Center. We got to see Lonesome George along with many other giant tortoises. We walked through town on the way back and got a chance to have some ice cream.

Santa Fe - here we did a short walk on the island and saw a large group of …