Giant tortoises

What an amazing place! We are having such a great time, despite several rough seas - thankfully the anti-seasickness tablets are working so far. I hadn't appreciated how far apart the islands were - we have to sail all night to get to the next one.

Every day we go out morning and afternoon in zodiacs to visit different islands - all are volcanic so sometimes we are scrambling over big lava boulders and others we are strolling on coral white sands. Each island seems to have different species - most have sea lions and marine iguanas, which are smaller than the land ones. We've seen all the types, plus watched blue footed boobies engaged in a mating dance. It feels like I'm in a David Attenborough programme, though not reduced to tears as I was when I first saw the Rwandan gorillas so close. It is all quite magical though.

Despite lots of boats in the main harbour at Santa Cruz, where we are today to drop off some passengers and get more, we are not aware of them when out at other islands, as only about 30 people are allowed at a time, so we seem to go about with a sister boat, each with 16 passengers. Where you can walk is marked out and the naturalist guide keeps an eye that we are not overstepping the mark. Of course there are masses of birds and reptiles - and none are nervous of people so we are practically walking on top of sea lions and iguanas.

Some days have been bright and sunny but others overcast. Whichever, it is always hot.

Today we visited the Darwin centre where they are engaged in conservation of giant tortoises which are then reintroduced to the wild. In the afternoon, we went up to the highlands to see them. I now know the inspiration for ET.