12 Mar This morning we went again with our guide to the Charles Darwin centre as part of our cruise itinerary. Although we had done this independently already is was good to have a guided tour also. After lunch we went up into the highlands of Santa Cruz island and saw more vegetation and turtles. We saw caves that were formed by lava flows and it was new to me that lava flowed just under the ground in tunnels. We had a walk around through them and then onto an extinct volcano crater.
On our way back to the island the guide got a call from the office that they wanted him to bring us around as they had some news for us. We went into the office and they explained that they had no replacement passengers for the ones that got off yesterday and they had no choice but to cancel the rest of the cruise. As we drew our breath they offered us an upgrade onto another one of their vessels the `Eden´. We were delighted as the Eden had cost $1700 for 8 days. Our cabins were outside cabins with sea view and the food, staff and space onboard was way better. We had to pinch ourselves that our luck was so good having got the other inferior cruise cheap to start with and then we were upgraded!
13 Mar We arrived at Bartolome Island this morning just before breakfast. Our first stop was Buckaneer cove for a bit of swimming, snorkeling and a walk around. That afternoon we went to James Bay to see the Gallapagos penguins and flying fish (they actually just jump out of the water). That evening we climbed to the top of a volcanic hill to watch the sunset and learned that we were looking out over one of the main sets for the Russell Crowe movie, `Master and Commander´. That night we set off for our overnight cruise to Genovese Island. As we slept we passed through the Equator into the Northern Hemisphere.
14 Mar This morning we awoke at Genovese Island, situated on the far North of the Gallapagos. It is a cresent shaped island is the top of an extinct sea volcano. We walked around and saw these birds with huge red bags under their beaks. They were the males and inflated them into a huge ball and simutaneiously flapped their wings frantically in a bid to attract a female. It was very funny to watch. We then went snorkelling (very welcome after hiking in 35C heat) looking for hammerhead sharks but to no avail. That afternoon we went on another hike to a place I cant remember.
15 Mar Our last day of the cruise today, we were up at 5.40am for a look around a remote part of Santa Cruz island where in a mangrove lined lagoon we saw mating turtles, sharks, mantra rays and pelicans. We finished up early and headed back into the main town, Puerto Ayora. We booked a scuba dive to do one of the most reknowned and scenic dives in the world, Gordon Rocks. We had a great laugh trying on various wetsuits trying to find one that fit as the Ecuadorians are so small that I had to wear XL (extra large).
16 Mar Up and out at 7am for our taxi ride to the scuba dive boat. It was a fine old timber yacht with dining area, toilets and showers. It wasnt entirely suitable for diving but was OK as they had a dinghy too. We did 3 dives, the first of which was a short and shallow refresh dive to familiarise ourselves with all the equipment and protocol again before diving to the murky depths. The second dive was a disaster as I couldnt keep down in the water and was continuosly fought against floating to the surface. The instructor was equally useless and swam off without me. I was alone in the water and for safety reasons had to return prematurely to the top, only 10 mins into a 40 minute dive. What a waste. The third dive an hour later was not much better as we were badly prepared and badly supervised when we were down below. Our dive instructor was a joke (he lost the whole group again) and our dive in the best dive site in the world was the worst Ive ever done not having seen the expected sea lions, white tip and hammer head sharks the area is so well known for. A Dutch family we were with complained to the company when we got back and they were told `Tough luck´.
17 Mar Up and out at 7.30am and off to the airport to fly back to Quito. Prince Charles had been visiting the island while we were there but we did not see him. His plane was in the airport and was interesting to watch the loading of all the royal luggage and boxes of documents, suits and endless hold all bags. His whole entourage nessitated a full on jet plane almost as big as the one we flew on. We finally got back to Quito and the St Patricks day celebrations were in full swing where we met up with our Dutch buddies again, Maiike and Stephaine.
18 Mar We took a walk around the old city today and saw the houses of Parliament, Cathedral and a few parks. Later that night we went out for a Mexican in the new town.
19 Mar Today we took a taxi to the Equator, 20km North of Quito. It is properly marked out at a centre with shops, cafes, museums where there were good photo opportunites. We had a good laugh jumping from the Northern to the Southern hemispheres and putting one foot on each etc. It probably is the most significant border in the world but we were out of there 30 mins later.
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