Photo shows a friendly and curious young sea lion at Las Tijeretas Bay

We are still in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal. Our Galapagos autografo allows us to visit three island ports just once each and this one is the most protected in the island group. We have had quite a large swell sweeping in to the relatively open bay over the last couple of days making life interesting for everyone including the sea lions! It is thankfully dying away now so perhaps we can sleep without too much rolling tonight! We think it had its origin in a storm complex way down in the Southern Ocean as there has been very little wind here to generate any waves at all.

We have been snorkelling at Las Tijeretas bay with friendly sea lions and some large marine iguanas and taken a trip into the highlands, apart from wandering round the seafront here and swimming at Playa Mann, the nearest beach. There is a very good interpretive centre on the side of Tijeretas hill which explains the multifaceted problems facing the islands from a sociological and environmental perspective. Tijeretas means "scissor tails" in Spanish and is named after the frigate birds that use the hill as a nesting spot, although they are not nesting here at the moment. From the top of the hill you can see right down the length of the island to Punta Pitt where we came close to on the way in from Panama.



Marine iguana at Las Tijeretas Bay



Green turtle - one of two we saw sampling the seaweed at Las Tijeretas



Young sealion enjoying dancing acrobatically - or just showing off!

The sea lions are easily the most entertaining aspect of the Galapagos wildlife, and there are hundreds of them around. They are totally fearless and seem to spend most of the day sleeping wherever they can find a space, although the younger ones spend a good deal of time playing with each other and anything they can find. It is common to see sea lions haul themselves out anywhere they want, including seafront benches, under police cars and fishing boats, yacht duckboards and cockpits and all over the rocks and beaches.



Seats reserved for those with flippers!

The giant tortoises that most people associate with the Galapagos have had a hard time coping with intruders over the last century. In the early days, it was seafarers and pirates taking as many as they could, then goats, pigs, rats and even fire ants either trampling on their nests or eating their eggs. Most of the islands have their own unique race of tortoise and these days as many of the eggs as possible are collected and allowed to hatch in a hatchery in safety then released back into the wild. This, together with eradication of feral introduced animals has allowed the tortoises to struggle back from near extinction. We spent time at the galapagueria at Cerro Colorado, just down from the highlands where we saw many large and small tortoises in the scrub. Most of the remainder of the San Cristobal population lives in wild scrub country in the North and is hard to get to. Incidentally, the term "galapago" actually means "saddle" in Spanish - not tortoise, even though that's what the giant tortoises are colloquially called. Perhaps the early explorers to these islands fancifully thought the shape of the shells resembled a saddle. The little tortoises are called "galapaguitos" and the breeding centres "galapaguerias"!



Giant San Cristobal tortoise at Cerro Colorado - this one was estimated at 70 years old

The highlands on this island are quite strange with green vegetation and seem very fertile. There are a lot of farms and fincas, with veges, fruit and livestock as well as some old volcanic cones. We walked around El Junco - a fresh water crater lake - which until recently was the main source of water on the island. Frigate birds skim across the surface apparently getting the salt off their wings and bodies. Both Santa Cruz and Isabela also have sizeable areas of fertile highlands.



El Junco crater lake

On the South Coast we explored the so-called Puerto Chino - actually a stunning white beach wedged between the lava rocks and wild scrub. It was possibly the most beautiful beach we have seen since Australia. Up on the rocky cliffs were some blue footed boobies - like so many of the animals here they are very tame and trusting of human beings goggling at them.



Puerto Chino on San Cristobal's South coast



Blue footed boobie at Puerto Chino

Yesterday we walked down to a place called La Loberia (sea lion colony in Spanish)- on the South Coast. It was getting a battering from the unusually large waves that had started up the previous day and even the sea lions were treating the breakers with caution. There were a lot of waders around, as usual very tame. A lone, brave surfer showed up, but a contingent of Ecuadorian police then arrived probably to warn foolish visitors to keep away from what were particularly dangerous conditions.

Everywhere we have been are the little finches that are often collectively called "Darwin's finches". Many of them are very tame and will even perch on your hand trying to get a crumb if you let them. There are 13 species in the Galapagos, and we have struggled to see the differences between those we have seen. The main difference is between the size and shape of the beaks. In fact, Darwin only spent just over a month in the Galapagos in 1835 on the Beagle's visit, but somehow the islands have become associated with him more than anyone else and the idea of natural selection that he eventually developed on his return to England. No doubt Ecuador would have given Darwin honorary citizenship if he was still alive, judging by the number of statues and other tributes to him scattered around the islands!



Ground finch - one of several closely related species - looking for a quick food fix near Playa Mann



A statue of the young Darwin, clutching a dubiously authentic book on the Galapagos - perhaps it's the 1835 version of the Lonely Planet?!