Roger and I were happy to hear a knock on the hull and Rob asking for permission to come aboard, daft question !!!

With the crew safely aboard we discussed plans for the rest of our stay. Rob had picked up some gastric bug, so Roger, Sheralee and I went ashore to explore. We hired some bikes and set off in search of the Laguna, where we hoped to see Flamingos.

After an abortive start, Sheralee’s chain broke and we had to get a replacement bike, we found the Laguna. We didn’t see the flocks of flamingos we expected, but we did manage to see one flamingo.

We then set off to find the wetlands. The USAID programme has funded the construction of boardwalks to make the wetlands accessible. Our destination was the Giant Tortoise breeding centre.

Apparently there are several different breeds of Giant Tortoise, each specific to the volcano area that they inhabit. There are 5 major volcanoes on the island.

The giant tortoise population suffered when the whalers first visited the islands, as they used to catch them and use them as food. Then when the settlers came, they did the same ( I mean they’re not hard to catch!!!) plus the introduction of goats, rats, cows and ants helped to reduce the colonies further, until they were on the endangered species list.

Initially, the centre rounded up all the tortoises they could find, around 70 in all.

Now some of these are over a 150 years old, but boy are they fertile. There are hundreds of little tortoises everywhere. Within 2 years of bringing them to the centre they had 200 tortoises.

Alas Lonely George, the lone Giant Tortoise on one of the other islands will be out of luck, as he is the last of his species, so when he goes, the species goes with him.

They really are amazing, when they stretch their necks out of their shells, they look like snakes. I can’t imagine how heavy they are, but they seemed to be about 2 ft high, with shells about 3-4ft in diameter.

After our visit, we dropped by an Iguana breeding area. They have set up an Iguana crossing for them to get safely across the road.

Hot and sunburnt, we headed for the Hotel Albemarle, where we knew we could get a long cold drink and internet access. 

Finally, we dropped our bikes off (but not before Roger had dropped OFF his!!) at $10 for 5 hours, I thought it was a good deal. We headed for the jetty and went to pick up the laundry. The Conch de Perla laundry is just off the main road near the jetty and they wash, dry and fold your laundry for $1.50 per kg, which is the cheapest we have found. Roxanna does a good job and it sure beats hand washing.