29th
Visited the island of Rabida. Lots of cactus trees and sea lions on the beach. A large iron ore deposit makes up the island so it is very red including the sand on the beach. Salt lagoon behind the dunes which is currently too salty to support any animals although it used to have lots of flamingos.
Snorkelled off the beach and saw a blue footed boobie diving underwater for fish as well as a Penguin! The penguin just swam underneath me and rapidly disappeared but I was happy to have seen it.

Afternoon trip to an island called Sombrero Chino (Chinaman’s Hat) which was a rocky volcanic cone. Sarah didn’t bring shoes as a lot of the previous ‘rocky’ walks were able to be done barefoot but this walk was on sharp jagged lava flows and crushed coral! I shared her pain and she wore my sandals on the return trip. Very painful going! The crushed coral was the worst.

On the way back to the boat we detoured along the coastline and finally saw some elusive Galapago Penguins sitting among the rocks.

At dinner we had a drink with the crew as it was our last night on board. Juan Carlos thanked us in advance for the generous tips we would be leaving the next day and explained that envelopes would be left in our cabins the next morning. One for his tip and one for the crew.

Everyone stayed up quite late playing cards and drinking and we depleted the beer supply for the second time in the week so the cook had to take the Panga to go get more from Nemo II which was fortunately moored nearby.