The anchor was pulled at 4am to move the boat. Since our cabin is close to the bow it was jolly loud! Permission is given each day by the authorities for when we can move. This time we moved from our overnight anchorage to a position much closer to Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido or Sleeping Lion).
Going through was fine but a swell came up before we returned and Aurelio, our boatman, had to judge the sea well to get us through. Then a wet landing (shoes off and off the boat at the stern into shallow water) at a fantastic white sandy beach which we walked along in bare feet. Sea lions and a couple of marine iguanas. We snorkelled in the bay at which we had landed but the visibility wasn't good. I also got the soap from the mask in my eyes which stung really badly. I also didn't like the swell so close to the rocks so we didn't snorkel for long.
Then back to the boat for a shower, chill and lunch whilst it moved back to Puerta Baquerizo Moreno harbour where we disembarked and took a bus over the top of San Cristobal Island to the Giant Tortoise breeding centre. The change in the weather was interesting - we left sunny weather at the town, drove through low cloud and spots of rain at 600m and then found a cloudy day at the far side if the island. The tortoise breeding programme is an attempt to reinforce the San Cristobal Giant Tortoise population which is an endemic species i.e. only found on this island. We saw both adult and young tortoises.
We were with Jonathan again and had lots more information about plants and animals as we went round the paths. We saw mocking birds, warblers, Darwin's finch nests, species of sunflower which grows as a tree, incense trees and lots more.
