We had a great day yesterday. It started by pouring down with rain and we hesitated as to postpone our island tour. However, we decided that there is no such time as the present and off we went. As soon as we left Wreck bay, the rain stopped which was a good omen.

We visited a place where the owner, a keen ecologist, built a fun tree house in a huge 300 years old tree. A floating bridge gave access to it. The trunk was enormous and there was this 60cm wide gap in the middle of it in which you could slide in and go down a steep ladder to end up in a bedroom which he built underneath the tree. A little claustrophobic and quite humid but amazing! In the outside buildings, the owner built a wall with empty bottles, another with empty plastic cases of Coca-Cola, all very bizarre but fun.

We then drove up the mountain to an altitude of 650 metres where there is a fresh water lake inside the dormant crater of El Junco, the only fresh water lake of the archipelago of the Galapagos. The lake is filled during the rainy season and the water does not leak through the walls of the crater. Frigates use this water to clean their feathers. Beautiful views from up there. Very green islands, loads of banana tress, citrus trees, Flame of the Forest trees, lots of  bamboo trees but these were imported to the Galapagos for the use of the wood.

Down the mountain to our next destination: Galapaguera de Cerro Colorado. The centre was built in 2002 with the aim of increasing the population of endemic giant tortoises from San Cristobal. Huge tortoises everywhere. I was in heaven… I don’t know why we find the so cute because really, their heads are terrifying and ugly. But still, we love them!

Our final stop was Puerto Chino, a magnificent white sand beach with turquoise water. We had to walk 15min on a beautifully man made stone path through cactuses and rocs where we could see loads of birds and geckos. It really was enjoyable and the water was deliciously refreshing and at the same time warm. We ate our picnic on the beach and then it was time to head back to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the Capital of the Galapagos, (also called Wreck Bay by foreigners) where FALBALA was waiting for us.

As soon as we got back to the little town, the rain caught up with us again. Actually, it had apparently rained all day on that side of the island so we had been pretty lucky to escape it.

We had a well deserved and delicious Mojito at the local bar, did some shopping – some beautiful Ecuadorian hand made silk woven scarf and shawl, and back to the boat for our dinner.

This morning I did some cleaning and tidying up jobs. Mike and Holger checked and cleaned the SSB connectors which hopefully will now work better.

About to go ashore now to send you this blog!

We had a fantastic news this morning: another of our niece, Audrey, has announced her pregnancy! We are so happy! This will be the third baby being born in the family this year: Emma and Jamie’s early August, Valerie and Sebastien’s late August, and now Audrey and Didier’s towards the end of the year. How lucky we both feel!

Beautiful sunny day here. Hope yours is too.

Love

Mike and Catherine