Miss Kathleen arrived on Saturday with a tired Julie and Larry aboard. We were excited to finally see our friends after meeting them for the first time in Shelter Bay. After discussing possible tours of San Christobal, we agreed on a day trip in a taxi with a tour guide who would take us to the volcano lagoon, the Land Tortoises, 'Galapagos' and to the Playa.

As Larry was getting onto the water-taxi to meet us, it suddenly pulled away and Larry (with a bag in one hand and the rail of the boat in the other) was left doing the splits between the boat and the taxi. It was quite a sight- comical apart the fact that Larry hurt his knee quite badly getting onto the taxi. Somehow, we all arrived to shore dry.


Jorge and Julie

Our guides name was Jorge. Jorge's great grandfather had been a coffee farmer in San Christobal and one of the first settlers from Ecuador. He first took us to the volcanic lagoon which is two hundered and something meters deep lagoon in the centre of a dormant volcano.


James at the Lagoon

Next we went to see the 'Galapagos', the huge land turtles who live to be up to 200 years old. Some of you might have heard of 'Lonesome George' who was found as the last survivor of one of the smaller islands in the Archipelago. He now lives in Isabela but is the last remaining tortoise from his species and despite efforts he has not bred again. It seems no other species of Tortoise is sexy enough for him. (Poor George)





Next was Chino Beach. We sat down under a poisonous tree, which was squirming with caterpillars and ate our home-packed lunch (for us this included James' boat baked bread!) before cooling off in the water.


Going for a much needed dip