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An amazing place of wildlife.
Volcanic islands, 600 miles from S.America, relatively untouched by human idiots so the wildlife is plentiful and friendly.

The best (only!) way to get around is by living on a yacht. It costs the same for one week here as it did for the 9 weeks in a truck from Chile to Ecuador! Ouch! Can anyone lend me a fiver?

Giant tortoises were once widespread, but they were taken in their 1000's by sailors who used to stack them on board as a fresh meat supply. They live unfed (and unhappy!) for up to a year.

We went snorkelling every day. Sharks were rare, we only saw one 6ft reef shark. They have big teeth but fortunately they are more scared of us than we are of them. Although, as I swam alongside it trying to get a photo, I'll bet I was more scared than he was! Luckily they're attracted to blood rather than other smells...

Turtles were everywhere, you couldn't move for them.

Penguins were hard to find when snorkelling, but we had one group that played with us for a few minutes before zipping off. One even tried to remove Michelle's fins!

They swim like little torpedoes, trailing a line of bubbles.

Marine iguanas - Ugly chaps who lounge around all day in the sun. Saw one while snorkelling. They tuck their legs in and swim like a fish using their tail.

Land iguanas (below) - Similar beasts - but they don't like to get wet!

Sealions are the best animals ever. They spend all day sleeping or playing with each other. When you're snorkelling they come and play with you. They sneak up behind you and pull your fins and play chicken by

swimming fast at your face before swerving off at the last second. They sneeze a lot, as Michelle found out when taking a close up of ones face!

There's 100's of these monster crabs everywhere.

They shed their shell as they grow (that's what Michelle is holding!)

Galapagos Hawk - They didn't do much other than sit there looking menacing. I suspect they eat children as there were none on the islands.

Blue footed boobies - big cute friendly seagull type things which dive into the water and catch fish.

You can go up close and the worst you'll get is a hard stare.

Pelicans were a constant entertainment. They look big and stupid, but are graceful in flight and majestic when they dive in from a great height to catch fish.

Albatroses are ginormous ( ~3m wingspan?), amazing when flying, but landing is more like crashing. And then they waddle like a fat penguin. Like the boobies, they nest right by the path and don't move when you walk past.

White spotted eagle rays flew around in lagoons like a squadrons of aircraft. They had about a 1 metre wingspan.

It was really expensive, at least £1,100 each for the week, but it was a trip of a lifetime and you just can't see this number of animals close up anywhere else in the world. At least we avoided having to pay to fly from UK as we were already nearby!

Back to cheap hostals now and eating pasta with dog food sauce...

Next country - Brazil