12. A Nazca Booby incubating its egg - they don't build a nest, just find a bit of flat ground. Location: Isla Genovesa


13. A giant tortoise.  They were almost hunted to extinction but are now protected and are slowly on the increase.  They live to around 120. Location: Santa Cruz


14. Chris trying out a giant tortoise shell for size - we bought out the little dogs to make up a picture story for our four grand children. Location: Santa Cruz


15. Sea Iguanas. Location: Isla Espanola


16. The male Frigate Bird builds a nest and waits for a female to coma along.  He then inflates the bladder beneath his beak to attract his potential mate.  The female take a cool look, assesses the size of the bladder and the quality of the nest, and decides whether she wants to mate. Location: North Seymour


17. The albatross spends most of its life out at sea but mates and nests on Isla Espanola. They mate for life.


18. An albatross chick.  It is hatched in the Spring and must be ready to fly by the following December.  The parents take off their separate ways, but return to the Island the following Spring to mate once again and rear their chick.  The chick is left to its own devices, hovers on the brink of the cliff that girds the island and launches forth, to spend four years out at sea, before returning to the island to find a mate. Location: Isla Espanola


19. We went snorkeling every day.  The water was quite cool, wonderfully clear and full of fish. Location: Champion Island, off Floreana


20. Best of all was playing with young sea lions. Location: Isla Bartolome


21. Bonington, landing like a stranded whale in the inflatable after a snorkel.


22. It's a holiday I shall always remember. Location: Isla Bartolome





Galapagos Islands

I've just got back from a brilliant trip to the Galapagos Islands - not quite rugged mountaineering, but fun and fascinating all the same.


1. There are around sixteen Islands from really big, like Isabella to very very small.  Each one has different and interesting fauna and flora.  Until the Sixteenth Century they were untouched and uninhabited.  They then were visited by Pirates and Whalers, who massacred the giant tortoises for food and introduced some species, some of which did huge damage to the fauna and flora - goats in particular.  Darwin of course visited the islands in the 19th Century and his observations provided the foundations of his theory of evolution.

A few people began to settle on the Islands and after the Second World War the numbers increased to around 30,000, but the areas settled or affected tourists are still only 4% of the Islands' land mass.  Since it has become a National Park it is much better protected and the impact of visitors is strictly controlled.  None the less we had a fascinating time.


2. The islands are on the equator but it was surprisingly mild.  To reach them you fly into Quito or Guayaquil and then on to the Island of Baltra.  You travel by very comfortable boat from Island to Island.


3. Our group on the Island of a Bartolome.  Our trip was superbly led and organised by Maria Coffey of Hidden Places (http://www.hiddenplaces.net)


4. You have to have a guide, follow a path and keep together.  Our guide Colette, was excellent and we learnt a huge amount from her.  The Graffiti was left earlier by visiting ships. Location: Isla Isabella, Tigers Cove.


5. The Islands are all volcanic. Isla Bartolome with the larger Isla Santiago in the background.


6. On landing the first thing you see are the Sea Lions. Here a group of females with their pups are basking in the sun, while the dominant mail - the beach master, patrols the shallows - he'll chase off any bachelor seal that dares to approach his charges. Location: Isla Espanola.


7. A young pup feeding. Location: Santiago, James Bay.


8. The Sally Light Foot Crabs are where ever there are rocks by the sea. Location: Isla Espanola.


9. A pelican has just gobbled one of the crabs. Location: Santiago, James Bay.


10. But is having difficulty swallowing it!! Location: Santiago, James Bay.


11. Nazca Boobies courting. Location: Isla Genovesa.