An early start today – breakfast at 05.15. Everybody else on the boat is leaving, but first we will all visit the Charles Darwin Research Centre. There is a trail explaining the conservation techniques and showing the different animal species. It was a bit of a whistle-stop tour and really deserved more than the 40 minutes allocated.

We saw different tortoise species. There were saddle-back tortoises with curved shells and long necks allowing greater reach. The 150 year old cacti were also interesting with particularly striking bark.

Jane & I are back on the boat at 07.30 and planning to have a relaxing morning. I think the crew do not really want us on board and offer us a city tour. City is a bit of an exaggeration. Santa Cruz is nothing more than a small town and very touristy. We decline the offer. It is a little noisy on-board as the crew are cleaning the hull and decks, servicing the engine and checking lifeboats, etcetera

We are due to leave the boat at 1 o’clock to go to the highlands where we will have lunch and see giant tortoises. The village is adjacent to the national park where the tortoises are free to roam wild. People are not allowed to enter this zone but the tortoises are free to wander onto the surrounding land and ranches in their search for food.

I am just enjoying a beer when we are told the taxi is waiting for us. It is an hour early. Apparently the time has been changed but no-one thought to tell us. No matter. We don sun cream, pickup cameras and are taken ashore. We meet another couple on the dock who will be joining Solaris for the next circuit. Sea lions laze in the shade of the dock, avoiding the heat of the mood-day sun.

Two taxis await us. The other couple’s one leaves immediately. We sit by the taxi until 12.50. Apparently we are waiting for another guest who does not know about the time change either. Our driver loses patience with waiting and we head off. Annoying to have waited 45 minutes in 35C heat to no avail. I could at least have finished my beer had I known.

It is a 35 minute drive to the ranch. We are going to the highlands. Not that high but in the short drive the countryside changes from arid, virtual desert to a lush green landscape. I am very surprised to see bananas and sugar cane growing. As we near the ranch we pass undulating fields with cattle and the landscape is reminiscent of the volcanic uplands of Costa Rica. Giant tortoises amble along the road.

We have lunch and are seated at a table which has all our new fellow crew members. After lunch we are taken for a walk to see the wild giant tortoises. There are quite a few here and it is mating season. The first thing we see is a large male trying to mount a much smaller female. It certainly looks clumsy and hard work for the male who has trouble staying on top. A guide leads the walk and tells us lots about the ranch and also tortoises. 

This area is volcanic and very fertile. At the end of the walk we are taken through lava tunnels. These were made by hot lava flowing fast under a cooling crust. It is very much like being in a cave but disconcerting as in places large chunks of lava have fallen and looking up I can see fissures and cracks.

The roof clearly will collapse at some stage and I would prefer to not be under it when that happens. We go through 3 tunnels and at the entrance to one we see a sleeping Galapagos barn owl. A very lucky encounter!

We go back to town on a tour bus and are given an hour to browse before finally re-boarding the boat. I think there has been  some sort of staff issue today. The new arrivals say that their cabins are dirty with bins not emptied. I have no towels in my room. This is different from last week when everything seemed pretty well prepared.

Alexis, our guide has now gone home to Guayaquil and we are introduced to our new guide Fabian. He seems very personable. All the new guests are very sociable and already mixing and introducing themselves which bodes well.

After dinner we spend time on deck and watch a pelican fishing from the back of the boat.