GALAPAGOS, SANTA CRUZ, ADMIRALTY BAY, PUERTO AYORA

11/3/10 - 13/3/10

We are having a great time getting to know fellow BWR members.  Fantastic 'Happy Hour' every evening where we get together and catch up with each other.  Jonathan and I are trying to do power walks to Tortuga Bay each morning early before it gets too hot, so important to try and stay fit on the yachts as when at sea we are not moving around quite as much as we should other than with the motion of the boat.

We walked up to the Darwin Centre to see 'Lonesome George' the only Giant Tortoise left in the world from Isla Pinta. He has a long neck and shaped shell so that he can reach high up shrubs. There is a $10.000 reward if anybody finds a female Pinta tortoise on Pinta, but only scientists are allowed to visit that island.  His carers have been trying, unsuccessfully, to mate him with similar but not the same type of tortoise.  Lunch at a waterside restaurant on the way back, where a sealion had casually plopped itself on a settee for a sleep. What is amazing is how the animals live casually and unafraid amongst us; they are not restricted but we are and have to give them room.  A few yachts have ended up with sealions climbing on board for a sleep, I think we will put rope across our stern before we leave the yacht.

Allan has gone off to do a tour of the islands before flying home for a couple of weeks.

Yesterday we walked up to the Saturday market to see what sort of fresh vegetables they sell so that we can victual the yacht when it is time to leave for the Marquesas Islands which should be a 17 -20 day sail we hope.

Tomorrow is a BWR briefing up in the hills and then dinner up there.  On Wednesday we are off cruising on a local motor yacht. There will be about 36 members of the BWR on board so it should be good fun and with a lecturer/guide we should see and learn much more about the wildlife as we cruise around the islands and land by rubber dinghy on the beaches and walk up to the volcanoes.