You know you're in Galapagos when a sea lion uses the back step of your boat as a bed, or you have to step over a marine iguana coming off the dinghy dock. There's so much wildlife around here, it's truly amazing and the kids are in heaven! After a day of just sorting ourselves out on Tuesday, we went the Charles Darwin Institute yesterday to meet the gentle giants. Mia and Lochy could get up close and personal with the tortoises, after whom the Galapagos islands are named. On the way to the centre, we passed the fish market, where pelicans, sea lions and iguanas hung out hoping for a tasty bite.
Today, we went up to the highlands of the island to some lava tunnels – over 1km of pitch black tunnels which were made by molten rock. A complete contrast to the wildlife of the coast, as there was no sign of life in the tunnels. When we got back, we realised that the agent had bee ntrying to contact us during the day as a tourist boat sunk 100m from our boat and the Navy wanted us to move. Not that we were in the way, but there was quite a bit of diesel spilled in the sea which is really sad, considering the wildlife. However, when we got back to the boat the navy had gone home for the day and there is a boom around the diesel right in front of our boat so we wouldn't have been able to bring up our anchor without disturbing the area where the ship has sunk. It was agreed that we would move the boat in first light, but I am wondering if the boat sunk on top of our anchor – time will tell. We are loving it here. It is much cooler than Panama, the people are really friendly and you don't have to walk 2 minutes to get a taste of wildlife.